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animeyanderelover · 3 years

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More prompts? Can I get number 16 with Claude? I'm interested how that would turn out?! Your writing is simply amazing 🤩

Interesting indeed. This prompt doesn’t seem very much like him, but I tried my best.

Warnings: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, manipulation, mentions of kidnapping

Prompt 16: “You don’t understand! If you accept me now, I’ll be your slave!”

You stood there, blinking confused at him. You opened your mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. You had no idea what to say, your mind having went kind of blank. But you couldn’t blame yourself for this. After all Claude’s confession was very much to take in.

You had known him for probably five months by now, having met him first when you had accidentally hurt yourself on one of your trips through the village and he had helped you back then to bandage your wound. After that you had discovered him following you nearly everywhere you went. After some time you had decided to confront him about this and were quick to tell him he might just as well spend time with you instead of trailing behind you like a creep. He had been clearly surprised at your offer, but he had accepted and like this a bond had blossomed between the two of you. But the more time you had spent with him the more you had started to get suspicious. He was...way too perfect. You had seen some people who were masters in their jobs, but nobody was able to do everything! But Claude was able to do anything perfectly. You had also once witnessed the strange symbol on his hand, wondering about what that exactly was. You knew some people who were known to know some pretty creepy stuff and had decided to ask them for help and to your surprise they had given you some books that looked like they would fall apart at any moment, allowing you to read through them. You read some fascinating stuff in that, but you had nearly chocked when you had found a symbol similar to the one on Claude’s hand in it with a description under that this was a contract sign demons used when they made a deal with a human. They would fulfill the wish the human made to them and until that goal was reached they would serve and protect the human and would get as a reward for their services the human’s soul, after the condition was fulfilled. At first you had laughed at this, finding it ridiculously. Demons? Seriously? Who believed in stuff like this these days? But the more you watched him, the more you noticed that there was no way he could be human.

At some point you had told him your suspicions, being ready to get laughed at and receive a logical answer to all of this, but instead he had just admitted it and to prove it he had showed you his demon eyes. At first you had been shocked, but then you had started to get curious, wanting to know more about his kind and other magical creatures. Normal people should have been scared when finding out that their friend sucks out souls, but you weren’t. When he had asked you why you had just simply answered him that you weren’t scared of death.You had never been shocked about his abilities or what he was capable of, finding all of it very interesting.

But now you were standing here, staring irritated at the golden eyed man, not really getting what he had just told you. He had admitted that he had fallen in love with you, wanting you to form a contract with him so he could ensure that you would become his mate. He was still standing before you, waiting for your answer with a slight impatient look on his face. You gulped, feeling a bit bad for rejecting him like this, but you just didn’t believe him. He was after all still a demon. And he had told you himself that demons weren’t able to love, they only lusted. You scratched your head and gave him an awkward smile. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.” Claude raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Why?”, he asked you, slight confusion audible in his voice. “How can I believe you that you love me when you were the one who told me a few months ago that demons only feel lust. If you want my soul that badly you could just take it, I wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against you. Why going through all this troubles and lying to me? By the way, aren’t you already in a contract? What is with this boy, Alois? Shouldn’t you focus on him instead of offering me a contract?” Claude looked at you for a moment before replying:”If Alois is the problem then I can get rid of him.” “What? No! That would be just cruel. This boy made a contract with you and it’s your job to serve him until the condition is fulfilled. And even if you wouldn’t be in any contract with someone else, I would still refuse. I already told you you don’t have to lie to me and tell me you love me. If you want my soul just take it, but don’t lie to me. You shouldn’t tell someone that you love them only to trick them into something. That’s unacceptable.”

Claude was normally someone very calm and composed, never really showing his feelings, simply because he hadn’t much of them anyways, but now he felt a feeling pumping through his veins that he had never felt in his life before. Desperation for someone’s love. Your love. It was true, he had told you that demons weren’t able to love. He had known at that time that this wasn’t completely true. There had been cases where a demon had fallen in love with someone else, but that had happened less than ten times in the long history of demons and since he hadn’t believed in that stuff at that time he had just decided to not mention it. But how could have he expected that he himself would fall in love? What you said was true, demons normally only lusted and at first he had been only interested in your soul, but the more time he had spent with you, the more he had started to love everything about you. Your eyes that always sparkled with happiness, your hair that always shined in the sun, your scent that he could only describe as addictive and your personality that was just glowing with innocence and joy. You had never shown any sign of hatred against others and were always ready to help in any way you could. You also just accepted whatever you got and were thankful for the things you had.

“I understand why you think that, but please believe me, I really love you.”, he tried to convince you, feeling slight frustration growing inside of him. Damn it! He shouldn’t have been so stupid and told you that demons couldn’t feel love. You looked him in the eyes, searching for some kind of emotion in it. You knew that Claude was talented in lying, but there was one part that could never lie. The eyes. The eyes always showed what was going on in a person. If you would find something you would believe him. For a few moments it became quiet and you just stared at him with an intense gaze. And to your surprise you found something swirling in his golden eyes, an emotion that you had never seen on him before. Desperation. Claude was desperate, but was that enough to make you believe him? “Let’s assume that what you say is true and you do really love me,”, you started and didn’t miss how Claude tensed slightly up, paying all of his attention to you,”what would happen then? I mean, you’re a demon and I’m a human, wouldn’t I just die some day and you would continue to live?” Claude answered you quickly:”You don’t need to worry about that. There are ways for me to bind our life span together. Like this you would never age. Just imagine it, staying forever young.” He obviously wanted to convince you with this, but it had the completely opposite effect on you. You felt horrified. Living forever? It sounded more like torture than a gift for you. But you decided to continue your questions. “Will I become a demon as well when you do that?” Claude seemed a bit unsure, he didn’t really know that what was kind of frustrating, but it had happened only one time that a demon had binded his life span together with another person so he could only guess what would happen. “I suppose not. Only because our life spans would be binded together doesn’t mean you’ll become a demon.” “What about other demons? Would they try to kill me when they find out about me? And what will happen after you finished your contract with Alois?” You asked a lot of questions, but Claude couldn’t blame you. So he answered:”I would never let you get killed by another demon and I wasn’t planning on letting you near another demon anyways. Normally demons would get back to hell after finishing their contract, but I would stay with you then and let you decide where you want to go.”

You bit your bottom lip, he did sound sincere and the look in his eyes looked sincere as well. Now you felt even worse. “I-I’m sorry Claude, but I’m afraid that I still have to refuse.” Now Claude wasn’t able to hide the shocked expression on his face. “But why?! I can give you anything you want! Tell me what I have to do to convince you! I’ll do anything!” Even he was surprised by the desperation in his voice. He normally wasn’t like this, but it was so rare for demons to find love and the thought of you not wanting him or wanting to go in a contract with him stirred up fear in him he had never thought he could feel. “Claude...I’m happy with my life. I know that you’re the butler of a noble and probably don’t know it any better. You probably think that every human wants something material, but not me. I’m satisfied with what I got and my dream is it to just live a normal life.” Claude was completely speechless, looking around in your small and old house. You were satisfied with this when he could give you so much more?!

“If you don’t have anything more to say, I’ll go now.”, you told him and were about to leave through the door, but suddenly Claude grabbed you. You screamed surprised and looked at him. You were shocked when you saw the desperation and panic in his eyes. You had never seen him showing that much emotions before. “You don’t understand! If you accept me now, I’ll be your slave!” His voice was overflowing with desperation and a pained expression had made it’s way on his face. You were stunned at this, but not nearly as much as Claude. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this? He couldn’t find an answer to this, he only knew that his feelings were a pure chaos, swirling around like a storm inside of him. He couldn’t form a contract with you when you didn’t want to. But he needed to in order to be able to make you his mate. You seemed to don’t understand how much he needed you!! “Claude! That’s the last thing that I would want in a partner!”, you yelled at him. “Just accept it! I don’t want to be with you! I don’t even see you in that way!”

As soon as these words passed your lips the air suddenly turned heavy. “Uhh...” You slowly looked up at Claude and shrieked when you saw his glowing pink eyes. “C-Claude! Stop it! You’re scaring me!”, you cried out, hoping he would come back to his senses. But he just stared at you with a dark look in his eyes. “If I can’t convince you willingly then I’ll force you.”, he said in a serious voice. You started shaking. You had never been scared of Claude, but now you were. His aura had suddenly turned so sinister. “No!! Let go of me!! I don’t want to!!” The next moment you felt something hitting you in the back of your neck. Everything started to turn blurry all of a sudden and the last thing you managed to do was giving Claude a disappointed look. “W-why?” That was your last word before you passed out. Claude lifted you carefully up in his arms. He hadn’t really wanted to use this method on you, but you had given him no other choice. He would find a way to make you go into a contract with him, even if it meant breaking you! He had never felt such strong emotions before and wondered if all the other demons who had fallen in love had felt it that intense as well. But one thing he knew for sure, he would never let you go! Demons mated for life.

#yandere black butler #yandere kuroshitsuji #yandere claude #yandere claude faustus

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drawlfoy · 4 years

Text

Wonders of Ohio - P.7

masterlist (catch up with the series here!)

request guidelines (yes i am taking them!)

pairing: draco x reader

request: no! this is my original idea

summary: american high school senior is in for a surprise when her family takes on a foreign exchange student with a mysterious past.

warnings: teen drinking, mentions of an armed robbery, language, a brief hospital visit, and descriptions of illness

a/n: hey. so. this is definitely where stuff starts to go down. thanks so much for waiting...i have so many more things planned for this series and i’m thrilled to see it come together the way that it is right now. thank you very much for reading and thank you for your patience!

taglist: @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @yesnerdsblog @shizarianathania @evanstanfanatic @strawberriesonsummer @hariosborn @night-ving @straightzoinked @imintoodeeptostop @icintliviinyiniilsiji @erisdogwood @loveissupernatural

word count: 6k

song recs:

murders - miracle musical

pink in the night - mitski

always, forever - cults

ice dance - ashton gleckman

enjoy!

Y/N should’ve felt cold when she awoke on the wet pavement. Despite a figure looming over her and blocking out most of the rain, the back of her neck and body was drenched in the cool water from the puddle to her right. It was easily in the mid 40s at this point in the evening, something that would ordinarily make her toes curl and her figure tremble, but it felt...different.

She felt like her insides had been scorched, like she’d downed an entire pitcher of boiling hot water. Every movement she made hurt--right down to wiggling her fingertips and her eyes. Her body was exhausted. If she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve thought that she’d just finished running a marathon in hell.

“Can you hear me?” A posh British voice cut through her musings as the figure above her came into focus.

Draco.

“Yeah. Was there a fire?” Her words left her throat painfully, scratching their way up her vocal chords.

“Er...what do you remember?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. The memories of the night slowly began trickling back--she’d done Draco’s tie, told him to watch his drink, argued with Chad about how funny he was, and walked to...Oh, yeah. The antique store. The box. The stars inside of her.

She flinched. “I fainted. I’m sorry. That was really stupid of me.”

“What?” Draco shifted back, the light from the front of the antique store catching his face. There were lines in his forehead that she’d never seen before. “Why?”

“I didn’t eat enough today,” said Y/N. Speaking was starting to feel less and less like lighting her trachea on fire. “I was really nervous and I lost my appetite. I’m an easy fainter.”

He cleared his throat. “Er, okay. Yeah. That was it. Anyways, we have to get home. You need to, uh, eat.”

“Okay.”

Y/N allowed herself to be hauled up onto her feet, swaying slightly once her full weight was on her feet. Her sense of gravity felt like it had been loosened. With every step, she felt pulled to the ground from a different part of her core.

“Steady. Don’t fall.” By some miracle, once Draco’s hands were gently guiding her shoulders, she was able to make her way to the backseat of Heather’s car before she collapsed.

“Where are we going?” asked Y/N. Despite no longer feeling like she was near death, her head was still cloudy.

“Home,” was all Draco said as he slid in on the other side of the car.

She didn’t bother putting on her seatbelt--she still felt like she was about to keel over--and rested her head on the car window. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco open the passenger car door for a moment, pause, shut it, and instead tug open the door across from her and slide in.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“My insides feel like they’re on fire.” Y/N winced as she tried to shift and get the weight off of her neck. “I think I’m sick.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” said Heather from the front, her eyes catching Y/N’s from the mirror. “You were just laying down in the middle of a rainstorm. Go home and take some Zi-cam or something, jesus.”

Y/N tried to chuckle in response, but it came out as a sorry squeak instead. No one made a move to further comment on the evening’s events as Heather pulled onto the freeway and began to gain speed. The sudden lurches and changes of speed in the car set Y/N’s stomach into a churning frenzy, her head growing light again.

“Draco.”

Her voice was so soft it was hardly audible--the syllables jumbled together on her lips in a quiet mess--but he immediately snapped to attention.

“What is it?”

She took a deep breath. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“For the love of god, at least try and hold it until we get off the freeway.”

“Shut up, Heather,” said Draco. Y/N couldn’t help but feel the slightest twinge of satisfaction as he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back on her. “Is it the motion? Are you sick from that?”

“I don’t know,” she managed.

He sighed. “Helpful.”

“Dick.”

Draco frowned at her, but she could see the slightest twinkle of amusement in his eye. “Can you move into the middle seat for me? Do you need help?”

Once Y/N had scooted over from her side, he leaned away from her and pointed up to the sunroof above them. “Go ahead and count all the lights that you can see in the sky. I promise it’ll make you feel better. Just keep your head pointed up.”

She tilted her head back. The night sky was largely gloomy, but the flickering lights of the planes that dove in and out of clouds provided some glowing dots. As she counted, Heather hit the fog strips and nearly threw her back into her original seat. She felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist and gently grip, the long fingers completely encircling it.

Y/N blinked. The nausea was gone. “What are you, a sorcerer or something?” she joked, not expecting to see Draco so frozen at the comment. “Kidding. I just feel better already. Thank you.”

He nodded and turned away to look out the window. His soft grip on her hand was long gone, and Y/N took Heather’s slightly uncoordinated driving as a cue to slide back into her seat and buckle up.

“If you really need to puke,” said Heather, “I have a Target bag back somewhere under the passenger seat. Please avoid the seats. They’re authentic vegan leather.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing.”

“Just don’t throw up, okay?”

Y/N was in Art History when it happened. The chills began, so intense and teeth-chattering that her teacher took one look at her and sent her immediately to the nurse. Sylvia offered to walk her, but she was only allowed to under the condition that she avoid all physical contact with her and sanitized each surface that Y/N touched. It was a wonder she made it to the first floor office--each step felt heavier than the last, and from the beginning she felt moments from simply passing out.

A temperature check revealed that she had a mild fever--100.3 F, to be exact--and a call home resulted in her mother’s full voicemail box and the remembrance that her parents were out for the week.

“Can someone else drive you?” Nurse Hazelwood asked as she stepped away to douse her hands in hand sanitizer. “I don’t think you should get yourself home in this state.”

After some deliberation, it was decided that Sylvia would take her home and call someone for a ride back. It was a bit overkill--but she didn’t know what else to do.

“And can you make sure Draco has a ride home today?” Y/N asked as they pulled into the driveway of the Y/L/N home.

“Stop stressing so much, dude.” Sylvia took the keys out of the ignition to give her an expectant look. “You’re sick. Go inside and make some soup or something. I’m sure your boyfriend will figure it out.”

“Now I really am gonna be sick,” said Y/N as she rolled her eyes.

The rest of her afternoon was a blur. Y/N tried to force down some chicken soup, but it took all her might to keep it from coming right back up. It was safe to say her appetite was gone.

After a failed attempt at walking up the stairs to crawl into bed, she collapsed onto the couch. The last thing she remembered was the sound of footsteps outside the front door.

Y/N hadn’t been to the hospital since she had to get stitches in middle school. Then, all she did was lie back in the chair and try to shut her eyes as the needle wove in and out of her torn thigh (bad bike accident, in case anyone was curious). But now was different.

Her eyes hurt to open, like someone had thrown soap in them and the very line where her two lids met were lined with knives. Everything inside of her was on fire--a manic, all-consuming fire that made it impossible for her to keep anything down.

The nurses and doctors were no help--not like Y/N actually had her eyes long enough to see any of them--but their voices were enough to let her know what was going on.

“Fever of 104--”

“Can’t keep anything down--”

“Severely dehydrated--”

“Tested negative for everything we tried--”

“Never seen anything like this before--”

“No viruses were detected--”

“Not mono--”

As she wove in and out of consciousness, one fact stuck in her mind: I think I might die here. Something is very wrong.

When she did dream, images of the box she picked up plagued her mind. The symbol, etched lightly into the black top, glowed menacingly in her hands. Open it, open it something around her urged, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t.

It was during one of these dreams that her world suddenly shifted back to her hospital room. She was suspended above her body, looking down at the tangle of IVs and various other wires that imprisoned her...but she wasn’t alone.

The dim lighting and darkness outside confirmed her suspicion that it was indeed late at night. A figure, tall and slim, was sitting to her left. It was whispering something unintelligible as it gently took her hand and squeezed.

If Y/N could scream, she would’ve. The sudden pull back to her body was so strong that she was yanked across the room so she just barely hovered over her corporeal form. She could feel a grip, steady and firm, wrapped around her hand as a rush of cool ran through her. Each breath, each pulse, each heartbeat pulled her back to herself. It felt like a bucket of water had been poured over--into--her, extinguishing the flames that were eating away the inside of her.

The figure’s whispering finally came to an end as she settled back into her physical body. Before she drifted off to a peaceful slumber, a familiar voice rose above the quiet whispers.

“I’m sorry.”

“Y/N!”

Her eyes shot open to see her mother, heavy eye bags and all, standing over her bed. “Hi Mo-”

“You scared me half to death!” Mrs. Y/L/N interrupted, placing her hand on her forehead. “No fever. Thank god. You know, when you were a baby, you were horribly ill with…”

Y/N sat and pretended she was listening as she relinquished in the fact that she was awake, she was here. The fire inside of her was long gone, replaced with the familiar...whatever was there before. Nothing? Maybe. Nothing was good, or at least better than the painful fire. It struck her with a sudden urgency that she had no idea what day it was, much less time. What about her homework? What about her UChicago application? Her counselor was supposed to submit her letter of rec a week ago...or a week ago from whenever she was brought to the hospital.

“Honey, are you even listening?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said.

“That’s what I thought. The food here is horrendous--of course you’re excited to go home.” Mrs. Y/L/N took her glasses off to wipe at the lens in a gesture that seemed more habitual and less effective. “You poor thing. Your father is still in New York--John simply couldn’t have him leave--but he’ll be back as soon as he can. Let’s get you out of here.”

The next few hours were a strange blur of paperwork, changes of clothes, and a bag of medication. The nurses and doctors were bewildered at her miraculous recovery and expressed this at every chance they had on her way out, reminding her to immediately seek attention if she feels anything similar again.

“What day is it?” Y/N finally asked once they were on the way home.

“Wow, you really were out of it.” Mrs. Y/L/N flicked her blinker on as she merged onto the freeway. “Sunday. You were there almost a whole week.”

“Huh? What about school? Do my teachers know? How did Draco get to school? Is he ok?”

“Of course your teachers know, hun. They’re all being very forgiving with their late work policies. As long as you’re putting effort into learning the material you missed, they have no problem letting you skip out on the homework. As for Draco...I think he’s fine. Sylvia’s family took him under their wing for the week. He’s still alive.”

And such a statement was proven when Y/N walked through the front door. Draco shot up from his seat at the living room couch the moment they locked eyes, his hands wringing back and forth.

“You’re okay.”

“You’re okay too,” she responded airily. “When I wasn’t dying I was worrying myself about how you’d do without me. I see my fears of you walking into moving traffic didn’t come true, thank God.”

His lips, tight, offered her the slightest upturn.

“Y/N, dearie, no need to harass the boy,” her mother said. “Up to your room. I’ll bring you some soup in a moment. You need to rest, young lady.”

She sent one last teasing grin at Draco before she was ushered up the steps, her mother fussing over her the entire way.

“So,” Sylvia said, crossing her legs over the other and giving Y/N a wicked look, “Consider this your last formal invitation to my Halloween party. It’s this Friday. It’s not even the night before the ED deadline. You should go.”

“I don’t know, Vy,” said Y/N. Her art history notes lay untouched in front of her as the teacher droned on about something related to how mannerism as an art style came to fame during the...Reformation? She didn’t know. “I’m kind of tired. I feel bad about leaving Draco alone, too.”

“Dude.”

“What?”

Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Will you just do us all a favor and admit that you like him? It’s getting exhausting. Just ask him to come with you.”

“You’re absolutely off your rocker if you think I’m gonna do that,” Y/N said.

“I’m just saying, you’ve done weirder things. Like almost dying from...literally nothing.”

“Hey, hey, don’t be rude. I’ll think about it but no guarantees. I don’t really think Draco is the partying type, though.”

“I’d be careful about making such a wild assumption. You never know what goes on in those posh private British schools for rich kids or wherever he went.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Her friend laughed. “No. Just an optimist.”

Y/N swung the sleeve of her cardigan at her, whacking her pretty good on the bicep. If Sylvia was bothered by it, she didn’t show it. “Fine. I’ll ask him as a friend.”

“Pansy.”

Y/N was never the type to enjoy background noise as she worked, but there was something nostalgic about hearing the identical voices of her local news anchors in the room over as she sat at the kitchen table and worked on a last minute Physics review set.

“Hey loser,” she called out as she saw a head of blond hair pass by her to get to the kettle. “Care to join me?”

Draco turned, his mouth open and ready to issue a retort before he appeared to change his mind. He’d been oddly distant lately, avoiding her in the common spaces they often saw each other and choosing to get breakfast and his evening tea at times that he knew she wouldn’t be down in the kitchen for. Perhaps that was the reason why she was sitting at the kitchen table at present, but of course she’d never admit that. Not even to herself.

“Can’t. I’m a bit busy with work.”

“Draco,” she chided. “What work is it? I can help you, you know.”

He paused for a few seconds, taking in the scatter of papers on the table and the nearly complete review sheet. “The Physics review is taking me a bit of time,” he said, his tone forced and resigned.

“Go grab it!” She grinned as his scowl deepened. “If you’re nice I’ll let you copy.”

She lost track of time as they went over his work, his pencil marks filling the page with symbols that were unfamiliar to her.

“Your handwriting is really nice,” she noted. “Like, so nice that I feel like you could really make it as a study youtuber or a study blogger or whatever. You have that potential if you want to tap into it, dude.”

“I have no idea what that is,” he said neatly as he punched an equation into her calculator.

“Fair.”

She sat still for a few more moments, watching as her study partner’s chest rose and fell with each breath he took. Sylvia’s Halloween party was just a few days away, and she needed to ask him at some point. Every time she mustered up the courage to open her mouth and hitch her breath, the words would die on her tongue.

The silence weighed heavy in the air as the words of the news anchors floated over…”multiple reports of an armed robbery….suburbs surrounding Cincinnati...cautioned to lock doors...potential link to the missing persons case…”

“Draco,” she said finally. He jolted up from his work to gaze at her. His eyes were probably the prettiest things she’d ever seen--all pale and metallic and silvery. “Uh, I’m going to this Halloween party this Friday. You should come with me, it sounds like it’ll be fun. I think that Heather will be there.”

Y/N mentally groaned at her admission to Heather’s attendance but didn’t know what else to say. She wanted him to come--even if it was so he could spend the whole time being woo-ed over by her.

“Er,” he began, twirling his pencil around his fingers. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Homework, you know.”

“Just finish it before--That’s what I’m doing.”

“I think I’m go--”

The slam of the front door made both of them jump, scattering Y/N’s long forgotten work and threatening to knock Draco’s mug over.

“Hi kids,” Mrs. Y/L/N greeted as she entered the kitchen, an armful of grocery bags in tow. “Studying?”

“Yeah,” Y/N answered. “By the way, Mom, Sylvia invited me over to her house on Friday for a sort of Halloween get together. Can I go?”

Her mother was silent for a few moments as she methodically unpacked the paper bags on the counter.

“I don’t see why not. Is Draco coming too?”

“No,” he replied before Y/N even had the chance to open her mouth.

“I don’t think you should be home alone at night, my dear,” said her mother. “Have you seen the news? There’s someone on the loose. I’d feel much better if you were with Y/N--Robert and I are going to an auction that night. We won’t be around.”

“I’ll be fi--”

“If Y/N is going, you’re going,” Mrs. Y/L/N said as she finished unloading and brushed her hands off on her thighs. Her no nonsense demeanor rarely showed itself, but when it did, she was difficult to argue with.

Y/N shrunk down in her seat as Draco sent her a sour look.

Sorry she mouthed. If he noticed, he didn’t show it.

“Remind me again why we’re walking?”

Draco’s snotty tone carried through the crisp fall air as they neared the street that Sylvia lived on.

“Because,” said Y/N, “Quite frankly, I don’t think I can get through being in an enclosed space with Heather for an entire night without being at least a little buzzed. And I’m not gonna have you drive us home.”

“Hmph.” His dress shoes, odd pointed tips and all, kicked at the fall leaves below them. His costume was literally nothing different than what he wore when he arrived--a crisp white dress shirt, an oddly cut blazer, and a weird looking green and silver pin attached to his lapel.

“If anyone asks,” she had told him from the hallway as they were getting ready to go that afternoon, “Just say you’re a corporate rat or something.”

He’d snorted at her choice of clothing--a completely dark brown set up with a picture of a shoe taped to her chest.

“I’m the shoe that that Iraqi reporter threw at Bush,” she had explained.

He just stared.

“If you aren’t having fun, please just let me know,” Y/N said as they turned one of the last corners. “We can tell her our fish died or something. Sylvia would totally understand.”

“We don’t have a fish.”

“I know, genius,” she teased, giving him a little punch. Instead of balking, he just crinkled his nose. “But she doesn’t.”

“I think she does.”

“You’re missing the point. You’ll tell me if you want to go back home, promise?”

“I want to go home.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

He grinned as they waited for Sylvia to open the door.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur. Y/N didn’t drink much at first--maybe the equivalent of 2 or 3 shots, spaced out in between a couple of sips of water--but the energy in Sylvia’s home definitely had her more buzzed than usual. There was something about her home that always felt twice as spooky, a type of underlying energy that pulsed at the seams.

To her surprise, Draco actually took a cup of whatever Sylvia offered him and downed it. She laughed when she saw him finally lower the cup as he furrowed his brow at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

His features looked softer in the dim lighting of Sylvia’s living room--all the tension that he carried in his shoulders and face seemed to be gone. When he smiled at her, it was all she could do to keep herself from disintegrating into the couch.

As the night wore on, Y/N felt herself getting progressively more tipsy, and, in her haze, she could see that Draco was going down a similar path. He was touchier than she would have expected--hanging onto her elbow or sleeve whenever Sylvia or Y/N said anything funny, not moving his leg when her thigh was pressed against his, stretching his arm out behind her and resting it on the back of the couch--and she found herself wishing she was sober enough for it to feel real. Maybe she was so drunk that she was imagining it all. Maybe she was actually asleep next to her toilet at home after throwing it all up and was just dreaming.

“Fuck!” Someone exclaimed, prompting her to look up. Abby, a girl she kind of knew from her grade, had spilled the entirety of her drink on the coffee table.

“Y/N,” Sylvia whined, “I’m too tired to get the paper towels. Will you and Draco go?”

Despite the half-hearted protests from Draco, she managed to haul him up by his arm as she pushed back the pleasure that Sylvia saw them as a sort of team, a sort of unit.

“I think she keeps the extra paper towels in her pantry,” she told him as they made their way over to the quiet part of the house. The light hanging over the kitchen island was on, but the rest of the room was bathed in darkness.

“Right he--”

Y/N froze as she saw it--or, as she would come to discover, them.

Heather and Chad stared back at them, looking much more disheveled than one is permitted simply sitting on the kitchen counter. It was hard to make it out clearly, but Heather’s cheeks looked flushed. Chad’s matched.

“In a fucking kitchen? Chad, I thought you were better than this,” Y/N said, turning and grabbing the paper towels from the cabinet behind them. “Get a room, you weirdos.”

Chad laughed, a short lived and awkward sound.

Once they were back out in the living room, Y/N tossed the paper towels to Sylvia. “I think we’re gonna head back. We have to walk, you know.”

Sylvia dramatically threw herself back onto the couch. “I suppose. Thanks for coming guys, it was nice to see you outside of class again.”

“Likewise!” Y/N called over her shoulder as she walked out of the door with Draco by her side.

The walk home was silent for the first few moments. Despite the fact that it was late October, the night was pleasantly crisp and not too cold. The only sources of illumination were the scattered street lights, casting a soft orange hue on the two.

As they turn the corner onto the main street, Y/N’s shoe caught on a crack in the pavement in a movement that would’ve sent her sprawling face-first into the cold concrete if it hadn’t been for Draco’s hand grabbing her own and yanking her back up.

“Thanks,” she said. His hands were warmer than usual despite the coolness of the air.

He just sent her a small smile as he untangled their fingers and placed his hand back into his pants pockets.

“Weird to see Chad and Heather, right?” Y/N nudged him with her shoulder. To her surprise, he nudged back.

“I guess. I thought it was obvious, though.”

“What?! No way.”

“Are you blind? Heather’s been all over Chad,” he said.

“Are you? I thought she was obsessed with you!”

“No, definitely not.”

“Are you sure about that?” she asked, turning to look at him. The dim glow of the streetlights made his hair look almost like a halo. “She wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Dunno.” Draco shrugged. It was then that Y/N remembered how much he’d had that night.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re probably not in the right mindset to be analyzing other people right now,” said Y/N.

His lips twitched upwards. “No, no, it’s ok. I’m fine. I just couldn’t be bothered over the whole ordeal. Entirely uninspiring, I think.”

“You’re such a nerd, even when you’re drunk,” teased Y/N. “It’s honestly a wonder that you spent the first month near failing physics.”

“Sod off.” He nudged her again, hard enough to make her sway. “You’re the one who’s still an insufferable smartass. I figured drinking would make you more tolerable.”

“Don’t be a dick,” she muttered as she shoved him back. “You know you love me.”

He froze in the middle of his retaliatory shove, his hand rested on her forearm.

“Sarcasm, king,” said Y/N. “I don’t mean it. I wouldn’t blame you if I were right, though. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m quite the commodity.”

“Oh, yes, most certainly.” His tone was dripping in faux genuity as he gave her a gentle push.

As he was doing this, Y/N grabbed the offending arm and took him down with her, landing in the soft garden bush in poor Ms. McCoyle’s front yard.

“Gotcha!” she cheered as he frowned from his spot on top of her. It took all her might to ignore the fact that his face was inches away. “It’s just my smart physics brain at work.”

“Your neighbor is gonna kill us.”

“She can try.”

Draco sat up, grabbing her hand and hauling her to her feet. She took the opportunity to hang onto the sleeve of his coat as a sneaking suspicion overtook her that things wouldn’t be like this again without the clever excuse of intoxication.

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

Y/N let go of his sleeve to look up at his face in confusion. She followed his eyes, suddenly hardened with an emotion she couldn’t quite place, to their house at the end of the street.

“You shut the door behind us, right?” Draco asked.

“And locked it.”

Their front door, hanging wide open and swinging in the breeze, told a different story.

Sobering up was easy once the police sirens showed up and searched their house. Y/N could tell the responding sheriff knew they’d been drinking, but since they weren’t driving and were speaking clearly, he didn’t mention anything.

“We’ve searched the house,” he told them as they sat together outside on the curb. “It looks like it fits the profile of the other armed burglaries in the area, but nothing was taken this time. The bedroom that looks out into the garden is completely trashed--it seems like the suspect was looking through your things for something. The bedroom across the hall was displaced a bit, but nothing compared to the first.” He took another look at his notes, adjusting the thick rimmed glasses that were perched on his nose. “You kids are lucky. Whoever this is means business. There’s unfortunately not much we can do except set up a patrol to watch over the street for now. Please give us a call if you see anything or hear anything.”

They nodded. Y/N had placed a call to their parents while they waited a safe distance from the home for the police to arrive. She’d been shaking as she pressed their number into her phone, and Draco, to his credit, rested his hand on her thigh.

“We’ll be fine,” he’d said before retracting it. “Don’t worry.”

Draco seemed considerably calm for someone experiencing a home break in in a foreign country as they made their way into the house. The first responders had left the lights on, and the wash of LED bulbs did nothing to hide the disturbance of her bedroom. Everything of hers was thrown into the middle of the room from her drawers, closet, and dresser. Her laptop, open and plugged in, was left completely untouched.

“Draco,” she said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Depends, what is it?”

Y/N noted that he was getting considerably paler as they stood in her doorway. “I don’t think I can sleep here. Knowing what happened. Especially when it’s still a disaster.”

“Understandable.”

His features looked hardened again, like he’d gone through a filter of seriousness. She decided that this was probably her last chance to ask for any act of intimacy before the effects of alcohol dissipated in his system. “And I don’t want to sleep alone.”

“Er...Oh.” He stared at her. “What?”

“I know that this is really awkward, but can I, like, sleep on your floor or something? Just for tonight.” When she swallowed her throat felt painfully dry. “I don’t snore or anything. It’ll be like I’m not even there.”

Draco sucked in a long breath, casting his eyes up to the ceiling. Y/N wished she knew what he was thinking about. “Yeah. That’s fine.”

“Thank you thank you thank you,” she sang, darting into her room to grab a blanket and a pillow as he watched wordlessly by the doorframe.

The walk to his room was dead silent except for their sounds of shock when they saw the broken glass in the middle of the floor.

“I think that was from the picture frame,” Y/N said as she carefully walked into the middle of the room. Sure enough, a framed photo of her and their late dog that had been left on the wall was face down on the carpet.

“Is this when you ask me to sleep in my bed, too?” quipped Draco as he sidestepped the wreckage and sat on the opposite side of the queen mattress.

“Um...we can make a pillow barrier so we don’t touch.”

He rolled his eyes and tossed his blazer over his chair as he took off his shoes and buttonup, leaving nothing but his undershirt and dress pants. “I’m going to get changed. If you’re asleep before I get back, this is me saying goodnight.”

With that, he grabbed something from his dresser and walked into his bathroom, Y/N ripped off the picture of the shoe and placed her phone on the bedside table. Before she knew it, she was completely passed out.

It was barely dawn when she next woke up. Her head was heavy--no doubt the beginnings of a hangover--but she’d never felt more electrified.

A small huff prompted her to look to her left where Draco was just a few movements away from her. He was very clearly still sleeping, each breath leaving his lips with a whisper. His hand, draped over the covers, was millimeters away from touching her. The pink of the sunrise made his hair, now ruffled and sticking up in the side, glitter in the light. She resisted the urge to reach out and brush it away from his face.

Y/N lay there, admiring the boy sleeping next to her, until the urgency of her situation struck her. She was absolutely parched, and if she wanted to mitigate the damage she’d already done, it was in her best interest to drink a glass of water and take 4 Ibuprofen.

With a sigh, she quietly slid out from under Draco’s covers and made her way to her room, careful to avoid the glass scattered all about. She knew she had a packet of Ibuprofen somewhere in one of her dresser drawers.

The pile in her room was bigger than she remembered. She began by just throwing her clothes that had been on the ground onto her bed, sorting through everything in rough categories. When this proved unhelpful, she turned to the mini pile by her door which, to her surprise, had a few sweatshirts that definitely weren’t hers.

Draco she thought absentmindedly as she combed through the pile. Aha. A small green pouch, just like the one she kept her over the counter medications in.

Her hands struggled to undo the tie--Did she normally knot it like that?--as she admired the lining. She never noticed that the edges had silver thread stitched in.

Once she finally opened it up, she grabbed her water bottle and prepared to be faced with a variety of pill bottles as she tipped it over; however, what came out was very different.

A collection of letters. Namely, Draco’s. She knew it was wrong, but he was sleeping, and every letter looked official, stamped with a seal and etched with some sort of crest. They couldn’t have been that personal.

After a bit of bargaining, she decided to open one. If it was personal, she made the deal with herself to put it away and never speak of it again.

The parchment was heavy and clearly expensive. Her hands were shaking as she unfolded the first one, feeling guilty the whole way.

Foreign words flooded her vision. It wasn’t like the letter was written in a foreign language--but there were so many terms she didn’t understand.

Death eater...Voldemort...Crimes against the ministry...Conspiracy against Dumbledore...Hogwarts-sanctioned punishment...

She read on until a word popped out that made sense--Magic. And there it was again--Magic. Wizard. Magic.

Swallowing hard, she shoved the letter back into the envelope and opened one more. This one was much more coherent.

“Dear Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy:

It has been made apparent to us that, while serving the punishment of your accused crimes, you have unlawfully used magic (namely, a Glamour spell) in front of a muggle. Consider this to be your first strong warning. One more slip up and the Ministry will be forced to reconsider your dropped sentence of Azkaban.

Sincerely and warmly,

The Ministry of Magic -- Justice Sector”

What. What the fuck. What the fuck.

Her racing mind was put to a screeching halt at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her.

#draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco imagine #draco malfoy imagine #draco x oc #draco x y/n #draco malfoy x oc #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy #draco lucius malfoy

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skylights2000 · 3 years

Text

Blush (Kazuichi x Fem! Reader) Part 1

This is my first story with a Female Reader, but if you guys don’t like it that way, I can rework it to make the reader Genderneutral. Let me know what you think 💜

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Kazuichi had only agreed to this stupid ritual because Sonia asked him, and Miu said she’d drag him here herself if he didn’t show up.

He’d gone through the motions, trying his best not to panic, but that all went out the window when the lights above their heads burst, showering, Miu, Sonia, Gundham, and him with sparks.

He stood there, frozen in horror, as smoke swirled from the center of the salt circle they’d made. A figure slowly appeared as the mist began to vanish. The lights flickered back on, and standing in the middle of the circle was what appeared to be a woman.

She was wearing a dark purple t-shirt and black jeans. She would look like a regular person if it weren’t for the dark spirals that curled up her arms, and the pair of curled, dark purple horns that protruded from her head.

She looked around the room before her eyes settled on him. She moved silently and at a speed his eyes couldn’t keep up with. In a heartbeat, she was standing at the edge of the salt circle, her dark purple eyes boring into his.

He jumped, stumbling backwards. She held out her hand, frowning when her hand met the barrier created by the salt circle.

“Mm, that’s unfortunate.” Her voice was soft, slightly deeper than most women he’d met.

She hooked her thumbs through her belt loops and turned to face Sonia and Gundham. “You called?”Gundham nodded calmly. “We wish for you to imbue this mechanical being with a living soul.”

She moved back to the center of the circle where Kiibo laid. She crouched down beside him, inspecting it quietly.

“No.”

“What?!” Miu screeched. “You have to! Please!”

She turned to Miu with an exasperated frown. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I can’t.”

“How is that possible? Your power is quite immense from what I can tell.” Gundham asked curiously.

“Even with my power, giving this robot a living spirit would take too much of my energy. I’d be completely immobilized. If I went back to my world in that condition” She scowled darkly. “I’d be ripped to shreds.”

“Then stay here until you’re strong enough to go back!” Miu countered fiercely.

The demon ran a hand through her hair, frustration written across her face. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Why not?!”

“I’m a demon. My energy doesn’t replenish on its own. I gain energy from others through physical touch.” She explained.

“Then touch one of us!”

“No!” She snapped, finally losing her cool. “Taking that much energy from a human at one time would kill them!”

Miu finally went silent as she processed the words. “Then can’t you take someone’s energy a little at a time?”

“I can in theory, but it’s hard to find a human that’s willing to agree to something like that.”

“Take Kazuichi!” Miu offered, ignoring Kazuichi’s sputtered protests.

The demon glanced at him, a ghost of a smile dancing at the corners of her lips. “As tempting as that is, I don’t think you should be volunteering your friend without asking him.”

Every head turned to Kazuichi, and he instantly stiffened under their gazes.

“I..” He looked at Kiibo, the metal robot that he and Miu had painstakingly made by hand. They’d spent months building and improving the robot until it nearly looked like a real person. He glanced to Miu, who was watching him with a painfully hopeful expression.

He swallowed thickly, squared his shoulders, and locked eyes with the demon woman. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded stiffly, trying to hide how nervous he actually was. She shot him one last doubtful look before shrugging and turning away from him. He watched in shock as her fingers grew into long, black claws. Just as she was about to dig them into the ground, Sonia spoke up quickly. “Wait!”

The demon paused, head raising to look at Sonia from where she stood. “Yeah?”

“You can’t carve anything on the ground. We don’t own this building.” Sonia explained.

The demon glanced around the room before nodding. “Take me somewhere where I can.”

She leaned forward and picked Kiibo up as if he weighed nothing. It had taken both Kazuichi and Gundham to move Kiibo the few feet to get him in the circle, but she carried him with ease. She stood at the edge of the salt circle, and Sonia kicked some away to make a path for her.

The demon woman nodded gratefully and moved to stand beside Sonia. “Lead the way.”

Gundham led them outside the building and into a grassy area outside. “Put it here.”

She laid Kiibo in the spot Gundham was pointing to and told them to back up. She used her claws to draw a large circle around Kiibo, carving several strange symbols inside as she went.

When she was done, she crouched down next to Kiibo and took one of his smooth, metal hands. The symbols she carved began to glow, softly at first but rising until the light lit up the area around them. He could hear her talking, her voice carried by the wind that swirled around them, whipping his hair into his face. The words were different, spoken confidently in a language he didn’t understand. Her body began to shift, the spirals on her arms began to curl all the way up her neck, framing her face and branching across her cheeks. A pair of large, dark wings protruded from her back, shielding their eyes from the blinding explosion of purple light that followed. The light slowly began to fade until all that was left was a soft glow coming from Kiibo’s chest. Once it faded, Miu rushed forward, cradling Kiibo’s head in her lap.

The demon girl shifted to sit on the ground, using one arm to hold herself up while the other was clenched in the center of her chest. “..He’ll wake up..tomorrow..” She choked out, each word strained and laced with pain.

“Are you okay?” Sonia asked worriedly as she crouched down beside the horned woman.

She nodded stiffly. “Just..took more than..I thought it would..” She glanced back at Miu. “You need..to take him..inside..” At the curious looks she received, she clarified. “A storm..is coming..”

“You can sense the shifting of the weather patterns.” Gundham spoke up, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

“Whatever, just help me with this, man.” Kazuichi said.

He and Gundham worked together to carry Kiibo back into the garage while Miu and Sonia worked together to cover the markings in the dirt before returning to her side.

The demon had clambered to her feet, swaying dangerously when she moved. Sonia and Miu rushed forward to catch her, supporting as much of her weight as they could. She was taller than both of them, so it was a bit difficult, but they managed to help her into the building.

By the time they got inside, her wings had vanished and the spirals on her skin had receded back to their original place. They helped her over to a bench nearby, and she sat down, leaning her head against the wall.

Miu glanced over at Kiibo and smiled softly. “Thank you.”

She laughed breathily. “You better enjoy that damn robot. Nearly killed myself for it.”

Miu grinned at her excitedly. “Hell yeah, I’ll enjoy it!” As if to prove her point, she ran over to the robot man and began excitedly tinkering with several things to get him plugged in. She assumed it was so that he could charge.

“Oh my, how rude of me!” The demon glanced at Sonia when she spoke. “My name is Sonia Nevermind.” Sonia held out her hand happily, and when the demon woman hesitated, Sonia took her hand instead. “What’s your name?”

“...Call me (Y/n). That was my human name.”

“You have another name?”

The demon, (Y/n), nodded but didn’t specify what that name actually was.

Sonia squeezed her hand gently. “You can have a bit of my energy.”

(Y/n) turned to her sharply, eyes narrowing skeptically. “You’re sure about that?”

Sonia nodded seriously, and after a second, she felt a spark at her fingertips. When (Y/n) removed her hand from Sonia’s she still didn’t look great, but she no longer looked like she was in pain. “Thank you.”

Sonia smiled sweetly and headed off towards her friends. (Y/n) watched as she tapped the pink haired man on the shoulder. What had they called him, Kazuichi?

(Y/n) watched Sonia’s mouth move, tempted to use her stronger hearing to hear the conversation, but she decided against it. She shouldn’t be eavesdropping.

She really wished she had though when Kazuichi started walking towards her.

He approached her hesitantly, like she would suddenly rip out his heart. She was honestly a bit offended by his reaction, but she supposed she couldn’t blame him.

The portrayal of demons amongst humans, both in writing and in word of mouth, was quite horrendous. Most of the things said about demons were actually wrong.

Many people claimed demons were monstrous beings that were created by and served Lucifer, but that wasn’t entirely true. Every demon was once human, but only the vilest, most horrible demons served under Lucifer.

She was not one of them. She had been born a human, though her father was, indeed, a demon. Her father was a truly wretched demon. Being his daughter had plagued her from the beginning, filling her head with horrible thoughts and desires for destruction.

In the end, it started to become too much to control. The only way to fix it was to perform a ritual that would denounce him as her father. The only problem was that the ritual would kill her.

She’d done it knowing that, and for that, she was to be locked out of heaven for one thousand years as her punishment. She was currently 999 years old. One more year and this hell she’d suffered would be over. She would be allowed into heaven and have any remnants of her father cleansed from her soul forever.

That thought had been enough to keep her going, to keep her hoping.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize Pinky had reached her until he was standing right in front of her.

He pointed at the spirals on her arm that had begun to shift, almost like they were flickering. “What’s goin’ on with those marks?”

“Since I’m only half-demon, it takes a certain amount of energy to keep up my demon form. Soon, I’m gonna have to switch back to my human form.”

“You’re half-human?”

“Yeah. My mom was a human.”

He shuffled awkwardly. “So what now?”

“Whaddya mean?”

“Aren’t you like” He waved his hand as if that would answer her question. “feeding off me?”

Her eyebrows drew together. “You say that like I forced you to agree to that.”

“You did!”

She glared at him, not even caring when he flinched. “I didn’t tell you to do shit. In case you’re forgetting, I even asked you a second time if you were sure about it. The second you said ‘yes’, it became your problem. I don’t know about here, but in the demon world, a promise is a binding contract.” She scowled at him, irritation written across her face. “You think I wanted to be here? The only reason I showed up is because I owed the on-call demon a favor. If I knew I’d be knocking on death’s doorstep for the second time, I woulda said no.” She snapped angrily.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, telling herself to calm down. Her father’s spirit came through much worse when she was angry, and that was the last thing she wanted. “Listen, I’m not here to start a fight. Figure out what you wanna do. Until then, leave me alone.” With that, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

She wished she was still human. If she was, maybe no one would look at her with such disgust. She was tired of the fear in people’s eyes when they saw her.

‘Just one more year, kid’ She told herself.

Just one more year.

#danganronpa goodbye despair #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa #multi chapter #kazuichi imagine #kazuichi x reader #kazuichi souda #miu iruma #kiibo #gundham tanaka #sonia nevermind

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lepidotrichia · 4 years

Text

almagest

Summary

"So you know how life is made up of stardust? Like you and I both are made up of the same things that used to make up a star, right?" "Right." "And you know how people make wishes on stars?" "...Yes?" "What if someone ends up being made up of the stardust from one of those wishing stars?" Snorting, he said, "You calling me a dream come true?" "No. I'm a dream come true. You're probably made of the stardust of an evil sun that cursed every living thing around it." "Fuck off."

They were both laughing, music dancing through the night.

Characters

Noriaki Kakyoin, Jotaro Kujo, (BRIEF APPEARANCE) Joseph Joestar, Mohammad Avdul, Jean-Pierre Polnareff

Relationship(s)

Noriaki Kakyoin & Jotaro Kujo (If you wanna read it that way. Technically Pre-Relationship)

Themes, Motifs, and Additional Info

Stargazing, Constellations, Mention of Nightmare, Comfort

Takes place after the fight with Death 13

Word Count

2312

Story below the break! You can also read it here.

While collecting the stars, I connected the dots I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit, in orbit Like a magnet it beckoned my metals toward it, toward it

Joseph’s snores sounded throughout the campsite, harmonizing with the crackling campfire. Jean, Mohammad, and Iggy were huddled nearby, the fire’s steady light dancing across their sleeping figures. A rock’s shadow loomed over the ground. Perched upon it were Jotaro and Noriaki, huddled in a blanket to keep out the January desert night’s chill.

The average seventeen-year-old isn’t equipped to fight a living god. Fear of what’s to come, of what failure would mean for the world, keeping them awake. Both of them were too proud to name that fear out loud, but they knew. Specters tearing apart everything and everyone they ever cared for haunted their dreams.

At times like this, the company of another was a small mercy.

“And that one,” Noriaki continued, pointing at the diagram Hierophant had drawn in the sand, “is Lyra. The one that looks like a parallelogram with the line sticking out of it.”

Hand pressed against his cheek, Jotaro mumbled, “What’s it supposed to be?”

“A lyre. Have you heard of it? It looks like a small harp, but its structure is more like a lute. It was commonly used during the Greek classical period.”

Jotaro carefully considered the sky etched into the ground. Noriaki had wanted to tell him about all the constellations they were missing out on since it wasn’t the right season to catch a glimpse of them in this hemisphere. Breathing out another cloud of smoke, he replied,“I don’t see it. All just looks like a bunch of dots to me.”

Noriaki shook his head. “You’re not looking hard enough. I mean, they are just “a bunch of dots, but humans always manage to find patterns. We find icons and symbols, make stories out of them.”

“What’s the story for this one?”

Noriaki grinned, “I’m glad you asked!”

Gazing into the peaceful darkness, Jotaro eased into his skin. He’d much rather be in a hotel room right now, but he had to admit, he was glad he was here to see the night sky. It looked so vibrant. He’d never seen the milky way in person like this. The city lights back home overwhelmed the stars’ distant glow, rendering them invisible. Here, there was no excess light or noise. Just the stars, the campfire, and Noriaki’s soft voice streaming bits of trivia.

“Do you know the story of Orpheus?" Noriaki toyed with his hair as he began. "Supposedly, he played the first lyre ever made. Legend has it, his music was so beautiful that it charmed even the sirens and the gods. When his lover, Eurydice, died, he went to the Underworld to beg the god of the dead, Hades, to bring her back to life. Can you guess how he got Hades to say yes?"

Without waiting for a reply, he answered, "By playing for him on his Lyre! Thus, Eurydice was allowed to leave the Underworld under one condition." Noriaki leaned in, the dim glow of the campfire casting a shadow on his face. "Orpheus couldn’t look at her until they were back to the land of the living.”

Taking a breath, he continued, “Of course, like most of these stories, it ends with a tragedy. Orpheus couldn’t help himself. He’d missed Eurydice so much. He just couldn’t believe that they’d be together again. And you know, it’s hard not to want to reach out towards someone you’d loved and lost. So Orpheus ended up looking back at Eurydice as they were leaving the Underworld, despite Hades’ warning."

Noriaki leaned back on his hands, tone turning nonchalant as he finished. "So Eurydice was sent back, never to return to the land of the living. Orpheus would spend the rest of his life wandering around aimlessly while playing his lyre, and no one lived happily ever after. The end."

Jotaro’s mouth twitched into a frown, “That’s stupid. If I was Orpheus, I just wouldn’t have looked back.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Noriaki inclined his head as if to say "really now?".

“No. I mean, why would I go through all that trouble just to fuck up and do the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do? What’s the point?"

“Well, it’s a story in the end.”

“Hmph, dumb story."

“It was probably a rhetorical question—” Jotaro nodded, “but the point of the story is to talk about how death is absolute. At least, that’s what I think. No matter how much Orpheus and Eurydice loved each other, love alone wasn’t enough to overcome death.”

Jotaro furrowed his brows. “But it was Orpheus’s fault.”

“Was it?" Noriaki rebutted. "Gods are supposed to be omnipotent. See, I think Hades knew that Orpheus wouldn’t be able to resist looking back, so he gave him this impossible condition to follow. He was humoring the funny little man with his pretty-sounding lyre. I mean," his hands were animated now as he spoke excitedly, "how are you just going to waltz into the realm of the god of the dead demanding your lover be brought back to life just because you miss her? Hades was never actually going to bring Eurydice back to life.”

Bringing his hands back down behind him, skin pressing into stone, Noriaki gave Jotaro a sad smile and said, “No matter how brutal it is to have someone you love ripped away, the universe doesn’t grant any favors.”

The two sat in contemplative silence. Hierophant’s tendrils shifted beneath the sand, mapping out their surroundings out of habit.

“I still wouldn’t have turned around”, Jotaro broke the silence.

“Hmm?”

Turning to face Noriaki, he continued, “I wouldn’t have turned around. Orpheus was thinking about how much he missed Eurydice. That’s why he turned around. That was his mistake.”

Noriaki tilted his head, a teasing gleam in his eyes, “You’re saying Orpheus was being selfish?”

“I’m saying he cared more about how much he missed her than actually bringing her back to life.”

“You’re telling me he deserved to be punished for missing someone?”

Jotaro sighed irritably, “I’m saying he put his wants before someone else’s needs. His feelings shouldn’t matter when someone’s life is on the line.”

Noriaki hummed. “Impressive, Jotaro. You know, Mr. Abdul told me how you locked yourself up in jail after you found out you had a Stand because you were afraid you’d hurt someone." He reached out to sweep aside a curl resting uncomfortably on Jotaro's left eye. "Something about an “evil spirit”? Did you have the same mindset when you did that?

Jotaro pulled back. “Fuck off”, he dismissed, stubbing his cigarette against the rock’s side, dropping it into the sand below. Noriaki winced as the cigarette landed on a part of Hierophant, ashes burning into their tendrils. Hierophant quickly withdrew themself.

“Shit", he breathed in sharply." Fuck, sorry.”

“You’re fine you’re fine", waving the incident away. Stifling a yawn, Noriaki closed his eyes, chin dropping. His loose curls fell against the side of his face, the red of his hair burning bright against his silhouette. Basking in the faint warmth of the fire, he spoke slowly, apologizing, “Not much I can tell you about the sky right now. I’m only really familiar with the summertime constellations.”

Pressing his face into his palm more, Jotaro stared at him, jaw tensed in quiet worry. “Kakyoin.

"Yeah?"

"Go sleep.”

“What?" Noriaki opened his eyes, sitting back up. "No, I’m fine.” Jotaro gave him a side-eye. “Dude, I’m wide awake.”

A wicked grin took over, as Noriaki pressed, “Is it that you’re tired, Jotaro? Is it past your bedtime? I know Ms. Kujo wouldn’t want her baby boy up so late—”

“Oh my god, I’m going to kick your ass”, Jotaro complained, shoving at Noriaki. There was no hiding the smile growing on his face. Noriaki’s laugh carried in the air as he pushed himself back to lean into Jotaro, the latter dissolving into silent, shaky laughter himself.

After some time, the two caught their breath. Below a sky full of stars, they sat resting against each other. Noriaki spoke gently, “Are you worried about her?”

Jotaro huffed, “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“We’re going to win, you know. We’ll save her.” Noriaki squeezed the other’s arm, “You hear me, Jojo?”

"Yeah.” He was quieter now.

“I promise.”

Hiding below the brim of his hat, he mumbled, “Thanks, Kakyoin.”

“Do you wanna play a game?” Noriaki poked up at the hat’s brim so he could see Jotaro’s eyes again. “Let’s make up our own constellations.”

“That sounds stupid.”

“Exactly. Haven’t you ever tried to do something stupid to cope with something serious? It’ll be fun.”

Sighing, he gave in, “Fine.”

“You first?”

“What? Why? I don’t even want to pl—”

“You’re older, so you go first.”

“That’s so stupid. This is so stupid.”

“If you complain or say “stupid” one more time, I’m going to have Hierophant pour sand down your uniform.”

“You’re one evil bastard.” Noriaki grinned as if he’d just been complimented. “Fine. Okay um”, Jotaro squinted at the sky before him. “That one looks like a cat stretching.”

“Really? It looks more like a horse to me. See, its face is too long to be a cat’s.”

Jotaro sneered, “Hey, it’s my constellation. I’m the one who says what it is.”

“Okay okay!” Noriaki laughed, raising his hands in surrender. “What’s its story?

“Fuck, I don’t know. It’s just a cat. Does it have to have one?”

“It’s more fun if it does.”

“I think our definitions of “fun” are very fucking different, Kakyoin.”

“Fine! You’re taking too long anyways.” Noriaki scanned the scene before him. “That one looks like someone asking for a dance.”

“How do you even see that?”

“See? That’s his arm and it’s outstretched. He’s in a dancer's pose, and anyways, it’s my constellation. I’m the one who says—”

“You’re so annoying.”

“So I think his story is that he was this great dancer, so great that he could never find a dance partner. He always performed alone. No one could ever understand him because no one could ever keep up with him. One day, during one of his performances, he was suddenly overcome with so much grief that he danced himself to death. So now he dances in the stars.”

“That’s dark. How did he end up in the stars?”

“Even though he always felt lonely, the people around him admired him a lot. They loved to see him, even if they didn’t really understand him. So although he lived as this untouchable being, he still left a mark on his admirers’ lives. So now he dances with the stars for the whole world to see.”

“That’s depressing.”

Noriaki grumbled, “Come up with a cheerier story then.”

“I’m not good at storytelling.” After searching for a moment, Jotoro said, “That one looks like a fish.”

“No story?”

“No…but I can tell you what kind of fish it is.”

“How do you know about the kinds of fish?” Noriaki questioned curiously.

Jotaro shrugged, “I’m getting into marine biology. Anyways, we’re near the Red Sea, so I’ll say it’s a Bigeye Houndshark.”

“Why a shark?”

“I like sharks.”

“I learn something new about you every day”, Noriaki nudged him with a smile, pulling the blanket tighter around them. “One more?”

“Sure.”

“Hierophant”, Noriaki called out. Hierophant materialized before them, starting at the two. Messages seemed to pass between the Stand and their user, and, after a moment, Hierophant chirped affirmingly. Floating higher up, they unraveled themself, aligning their tendrils to match what the boys saw as the position of the stars. Jotaro blinked at Hierophant as they settled themself in, seemingly pleased with their work.

“What’s this supposed to be?”

Noriaki smiled and replied, “If I remembered it right, it’s supposed to be a map of our journey so far. See that bright star near Hierophant’s head? I recognize it. Polaris, I think. People used to use it to navigate.”

"What’s it supposed to stand for now?”

“Cairo, or our end goal in general. The story of this “constellation” is the story of our crusade, I guess.”

Jotaro stared for a moment longer, trying to think of something to say. A certain feeling tugged at his chest, and in his rush to beat it down, he was rendered speechless.

“We’re awfully close to figuring out how this story ends, don’t you think?”

Jotaro scanned the distance between Hierophant’s head to Polaris. They weren’t all that far from the end now, were they. “Yeah.”

“Are you ready?”

Their eyes met. Jotoro shook his head.

“Me neither”, Noriaki sighed as he called Hierophant back in. “We’ll get there when we get there I suppose.”

“Kakyoin.”

“Mhm?”

“We’ll win. Promise.”

Noriaki stared in surprise before softening his eyes. Smiling, he replied, “Thanks, Jojo.”

"Do you want to stay up a little longer?” It was Jotaro who pulled the blanket around them tighter this time, silently voicing his own answer.

"Please.”

"Alright.”

The campfire crackled, sharing in the warmth of its company, both asleep and awake. The Red Sea’s coast was only a few kilometers away. The group's 50 days and 50 nights were drawing to an end. Maybe no one else would witness their efforts to save the world, but the stars above have burned on longer than any human life. Joining together, they form constellations. They are the archivists of times long passed, stories mapped out in the heavens. They are the storytellers of histories long forgotten. They are the witnesses of the things that happen in the dark, hope carried through dots of light.

Make my messes matter Make this chaos count Let every little fracture in me Shatter out loud

Author’s Note

If you were wondering, the constellations they're referencing in their game are:

Monoceros

Orion

Pisces

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojoba #jjba #stardust crusaders #jotakak #<-- cringing #jotaro kujo #kakyoin noriaki #kakyoin tenmei #kujo jotaro #jotaro #kakyoin #mywriting #jojo part 3

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maknaesdancersrappers · 5 years

Text

Attempt #11: Movie Marathon

<< the tenth attempt

wc: 2.5k

warning/s: male masturbation

When Jaehyun came back from your apartment, he locked himself in his bathroom and stared at his reflection. His ears are still red from what he had witnessed, he almost felt bad for dragging out his stay.

He thought you weren’t home. He remembered overhearing you saying you would go out with Yebin to check out a new cafe or something, so he left his flower shop job early that day to surprise you with flowers and the cupcakes you liked. He felt bad for using the emergency keys your mom entrusted him with to do this, but it would only be for this one time.

The lights were closed and if you were home, you would have had music playing to fill in the silence. He puts the flowers and cupcakes down on the coffee table to grab an unused vase and filled it up with water, trying to recall what the ladies at the flower shop told him to do to make sure the gardenias won’t wilt. As he sets them down, he thinks he hears something coming from the hallway.

Jaehyun quietly makes his way over, not thinking much of it. Maybe you left the window open and the wind knocked something over. The door is ajar, too, so he puts a hand on the pane to push it until he hears:

“Oh my god.”

He freezes, recognizing your voice. For a split second, he thought you were in pain from the way you whimpered, but then you moaned over and over again. He’s not stupid, he knows what you were doing and it’s taking everything in him not to sneak a peek like a horny teenage boy (that he technically is) but he steps away instead until he’s back in the living room.

He stares at the flowers — that ironically symbolizes innocence, too — a little embarrassed for catching you in a very private and personal… moment. He’s heading for the front door, trying not to dwell on it. He’s shamefully jacked off to the thought of you, t—

Jaehyun pauses with his hand on the door. Were you thinking of him?

He scolds himself; he shouldn’t care about who you were thinking of at this moment. But still he stubbornly turns around and clears his throat.

“[Y/N]?” He hates himself already for disrupting you, “Are you home?”

And then you come stumbling out of your room, flustered and panting with a light sheen of sweat all over your skin. You looked like you were glowing and it sent reactions to his dick. When he took your hand, he tries to convince himself you weren’t using the same hand to pleasure yourself before he interrupted. On the way to the living room to show you the reason why he was in your home in the first place, he hears a buzzing sound — thinking a bee came in, but it didn’t sound like one. In fact, he can definitely pinpoint when and where he heard something similar. As the buzzing continued while he explained why he was there and your expressions were forced, it dawned on him; you had a vibrator in you.

It was a miracle a boner didn’t pop out of him *immediately* and he pretends to be oblivious to it all. He hadn’t intended to hug you, but it was out of character for him not to do so after you just told him you had a “nightmare.” When your hands grasped onto his shirt and your body lightly shook in his hold, he knew you were cumming so he held you against him until you recovered.

He wanted to tease you so badly, but he bit his tongue and left after pretending Mingyu’s text was from his parents. If you only knew he wanted to get out just as much as you wanted to take care of the growing problem in his own pants.

So now he’s in his bathroom, sticking his hand down his pants and wincing at how hard he was. He holds up his shirt to his chest and pushed his bottoms down enough until his cock is free, bobbing up and down.

Jaehyun backs up until he’s pressed up against the wall, a fist around his length and squeezing lightly. His eyes are shut as he remembers your expression; eyes blown out, and shy, bottom lip swollen and red, your cheeks flustered and glistening with sweat. Your dress was haphazardly fixed, leaving a very generous amount of cleavage he could have ogled a little longer. When he was about to leave, he saw your essence dripping between your legs and he wondered how you tasted. It was a crude thought to think about his best friend, but he could add it to the list of other obscene things he’s thought of doing with you (and it guilts him everyday.)

He could hear your moans again, how delicate they were. He’s always found porn annoying because of the exaggerated moaning that he had to turn it halfway down and put some music on when he did watch them. He wants to hear you moan again; hell, he wants to watch you. But he knows it’ll be a long time before that could happen — it probably never will.

“Fuck.” He hisses, arm straining as he chases his high. Letting go of his shirt, he brings his hand under to gently knead his balls with his palm. He could imagine your soft hands on him, working them over his length. The brief image of you on your knees in front of him with your mouth agape is what finishes him. He comes with a choked groan, shooting his load onto the floor.

Jaehyun catches sight of his reflection in the mirror, disappointed in himself yet again. He’s not the pure, golden boy everyone — including you — cuts him out to be. Maybe people can expect him to jack off to porn, but no one would ever think he’d get off to the thought of you.

Despite the whole heated fiasco the two of you dealt with individually the day prior, you and Jaehyun still sat by each other in your living room like nothing had happened and continued on with the movie marathon you planned. After you cooked dinner for the both of you, you let him choose the movie and he picks the first one recommended in the landing.

Neither of you have seen it, but have heard about it. With your respective movie snacks and drinks laid out on the table, you and Jaehyun sat on the couch with too many pillows and a blanket each. As the movie plays, like always, you both made commentary about it; disagreeing with the character’s views on opposite sex friendships.

“He should take a look at us.” You huff, tossing a few pieces of popcorn into your mouth.

“17 years and counting.” He adds with a little laugh.

When the scene turned a little steamy, you both involuntarily leaned away from each other and focused on eating your snacks. You’re feeling your cheeks heat up at the reminder of yesterday’s events, pulling your legs up to your chest and pretending to be cold from the air conditioning.

Jaehyun is quiet until the movie finishes, even when you started sniffing at the little clips of old real life couples sharing their love stories. If there’s one thing you’re both certain of wanting, it’s growing old together. He wants to pull you into a hug, but he hesitates and watches you skip the credits.

You chose Descendants of all movie choices and when he makes a face at you, you playfully threaten him, “Shut up, I like the songs. We’re watching all three.”

“Fine. But we’re watching all three HSM movies after.”

You don’t have a problem with that, you liked their soundtrack, too. After agreeing to his conditions, you leaned back down and ripped open a new party pack of chips. Jaehyun sticks his hand in after you, humming when the taste of honey butter hits his tongue.

You space out for a minute, genuinely enjoying this moment with him. Movie marathons were a monthly occurrence for the two of you until SATs happened and your friends wanted to hang out more because it might not happen as frequently after everyone graduates.

“Why are you staring?”

It hadn’t occurred to you that you were, but there’s no point in denying it. “Because we haven’t done these in a long time… we haven’t done a lot of things we used to do before senior year and honestly, I don’t think we’ll be able to do them when we’re in college.”

Jaehyun purses his lips, “Well, I can take up Child Education with you.”

“What? Why?” The movie is just background noise at this point, “That was just a suggestion.”

“But I love kids, you know I do. And I get why you want to be a teacher because I want to be around kids, too, and help them learn and grow. I don’t know what other options I have aside from going pro.”

In the back of your mind, you don’t think it sounds so bad if you two both took Child Education and had the same schedule. But you start thinking about Jangmi or other potential, future girlfriends he could have. You would have to deal with them and although you’re hoping you wouldn’t care at that point, you’re a little reluctant to push him. “What’s Jangmi’s plans for college?”

He looks surprised that you asked. Jangmi had specifically told him not to talk about her or even mention her name or any other girl’s name when he was with you, but you had asked and it would be rude to ignore it. “Uh, Zoology, I think?”

“Oh!” You perked up, “Taeyong is taking up Veterinary Medicine.”

His face slightly falls, “Really?”

“Mhm. He loves animals so much, like, think of us with kids, but with him it’s animals. He told me he’d take me to the animal sanctuary he wants to work in next week.”

“Next week?”

“Yeah, for that… auctioned off date. I can’t wait, actually, he keeps talking about it.”

Jaehyun nods, looking back at the ignored movie. “Well, if it’s great, then you should take me there.”

“We should all go!”

That’s not what he meant, and he had every intention of correcting you, but then “If Only” starts and you gasp, “Wait, I need to sing along.”

His somber mood is uplifted immediately, laughing as you exaggerated your actions as you sang along with Mal. From then, you both watch animatedly, singing along whether or not you know the lyrics. After the Descendants franchise and you’re on the last movie of HSM, Jaehyun couldn’t help himself and said after singing along, “We have a garden like that in school.”

You glance at him, “We do?”

“Yeah, Jangmi—” He pauses, “Uhm, when we had those Japanese exchange students, as a bonding activity, they had the students plant and arrange flowers. Jangmi hangs out there sometimes; it’s nice and cool. She accidentally skipped a class once because she fell asleep there.”

You always, always had the butterflies in your stomach after watching the scene for “Can I have this dance?” but it felt like you got punched right in the gut as he tells you this.

“I can take you there during our break.”

“What? But that’s Jangmi’s place.”

Jaehyun frowns, “She doesn’t own it. She actually told me that we can hang out there with her some time. Come on, it’ll be a nice change.”

“Alright.” You relent, taking an extra pillow and hugging it to your chest.

While you still feel uneasy about invading Jangmi’s special place in the school, Jaehyun is excited. He remembered Jangmi dragging him there after school and suggested he’d confess there; it was quiet, secluded, filled with flowers, and overall, romantic.

You put on a horror movie next, thinking you can handle it, but the jumpscares had you grabbing onto Jaehyun that made him tease you for choosing it in the first place. Eventually, you had settled yourself onto him, cheek pressed over his chest while his arm came over you for extra warmth. It had initially bothered you, thinking this seemed too intimate, but it’s past midnight and you’ve wasted all your energy from screaming at the horror movie.

The last movie you remembered watching was Love, Rosie. It felt a little odd for him to choose it, but you were nearly drifting off to sleep to even contest his movie choice. As it goes on, you found yourself almost in Rosie’s shoes: pining for her best friend while he was with someone else.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, dreaded this film when searched up movies about friends to lovers; this one was the embodiment of his fears. Sure they ended up together, but if they had cleared it up in the beginning then they would have been together from the start. The last thing he wanted was for anybody else to come in between you and him because he’s already having a hard time from both yours and his actions interfering with his attempts at confessing. He must have been imagining it, but he hears you sniffing again, probably crying at the scene playing, and he instinctively rubs your arm.

“Just wait until tomorrow, [Y/N].” He thinks, leaning closer until his chin is grazing the top of your head.

You woke up startled when you hear a bang, almost panicking if you hadn’t opened your eyes to an action scene playing on the television. You must have fallen asleep. Glancing up, you see Jaehyun’s head tilted away from you with his mouth just barely parted as he softly snored.

You would have moved away or woken him up, but when else would you be able to be like this with him? The clock on the wall tells you that you have 5 hours left before you should start preparing for school, so you encircle your arms around Jaehyun’s waist and nuzzled his chest.

“Jaehyun?” You whispered, softly and barely audible. He continues to snore and you hum, “Jaehyun…”

His heartbeat is nice and slow, like a lullaby coaxing you back to sleep. As it thumbs against your ear, you let out a sigh.

“I love you.”

He doesn’t move and his breathing remains the same, so you continue.

“More than just a friend… but if you’re in love with someone else, it’s okay. As long as we stay best friends, it’s okay.” Your bottom lip quivers and your eyes start to sting, so you shut them as tightly as you can, “I just don’t want to lose you.”

Before you know it, your silent tears are soaking his shirt. You can always say you had a bad dream from the horror movie you watched, you’ve been using that as an excuse lately, because it is — losing Jaehyun would be an absolute nightmare.

the twelfth attempt >>

#nct smut #jaehyun smut #nct scenarios #jaehyun scenarios #14ways2

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

🔥 ℝise Ⱥbove I̾t ◈ Chapter 019 [Coming Clean]

📑 Table of Contents | ◂Backward

Word Count: 2,638

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

〈“If I could just control my mind, I wouldn’t need to run and hide. If I could show you all inside, then you would know what hell is like.” Nevertel, “Down”〉

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

“I really have gotten weaker. Back in my heyday, five hits woulda been enough to knock that guy out.” Toshi stood tall, his fist held against his chest. “But today, it took more than three-hundred mighty blows.” He paused, turning toward the remaining two villains. “You’ve been bested, villains. Surrender! We all want to get this over with quickly.”

Toshi, you’re running out of time, aren’t you? No, you’re already out of time. It’s faint, hidden by the dust, but I can see the smoke rising from his body. He’s pushing himself to the absolute limit.

“He… cheated…”

“What’s wrong?” Toshi taunted. “Not attacking me? Didn’t you say you were gonna clear this level earlier? Well, come and get me! If you dare.”

You’re bluffing out your ass, Tosh. I stepped forward, but a jolt of pain shot through my ribs. I can only use a little bit of power or I’m gonna risk losing control. Toshi’s body is shot… It’s taking everything he has to maintain that form right now. He’s pushing himself so hard, so goddamn hard to protect everyone, to keep true to the title of ‘symbol of peace’, but I can barely use my fucking power without risking everything. This is such bullshit.

My hand clenched around the handle of the dagger. Gramps… if you were here, what would you say? What would you do? Would you be proud of me? Disappointed? Angry? No… you were the kindest, gentlest man I’ve ever known. You would take me into your arms and tell me how proud you are because I did my best, right? But…

I’m not doing my best. I’m holding back because I’m scared. I’m so goddamn scared, Gramps.

“Man, this is… intense.”

“As I expected, there’s no reason for us to fight now, he’ll handle this.”

“Come on, Midoriya! We should regroup with the other guys! The last thing we wanna do is get taken hostage or get in his way.”

“You too, bitch. You’re hurt.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Izuku. He knows. He knows that Toshi is at his limit. He’s gonna do something stupid again.

“What, are you scared?” Toshi kept provoking them.

Tomura started to scratch frantically at his throat. “If only Nomu were here, he’d rush you right now. Pound you into the ground without giving it a second thought!”

Kurogiri leaned toward him, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. The once unconscious villains are starting to wake up, too. Shit.

“I think All Might can hold his own against those two main guys. Let’s make sure these dudes don’t hurt anybody else!” Red declared, taking a fighting stance.

“Will you two be joining us?” Peppermint asked.

Just then, Tomura rushed at Toshi. “Consider this revenge for what you did to Nomu!”

My blood started to boil and I pushed myself forward, letting out a scream of pain and frustration as flames engulfed my entire body, propelling me forward. It hurts so goddamn bad. It’s too hot, I can’t control the temperature anymore! It’s all or nothing… there’s no going back!

There was a flash of green to my left. “Don’t you touch All Might, you stupid villain!”

A warp opened in front of him, Tomura’s hand reaching out for his face.

I can’t… control it anymore, but I… I…

“Dragon…” I felt the tattoo on my back come to life, shifting as its claws dug into my shoulder blades. I have to do this quickly. The flames around my body grew as I cocked my arm back, my fist colliding with the palm of his hand. His fingers clenched around my fist, the skin starting to flake off as he used his quirk.

“Young Jen, don’t!”

“…Unleash!!” A large blast of power shot from my hand, followed by a loud roar that shook the dome. The flames exploded, shoving everyone away from me as they morphed and molded into a flaming dragon. It slammed Tomura against the ground, splitting the concrete. “Pepper… mint…”

Darkness claimed my mind.

I blinked, finding myself standing in darkness. There was nothing around me, nothing but an inky blackness that stretched on and on. My skin felt hot, but my chest felt like ice. The pendant…

I tugged it from my shirt. It was glowing a soft white and felt like ice against my palm. What the fuck is happening? Where am I?

“That is the question, isn’t it.” A male voice echoed through the darkness.

I narrowed my eyes, turning in circles as I scanned my surroundings, but I couldn’t see anything. “Who the fuck are you?”

“You lost control of yourself.”

“Che. What the fuck do you know?”

“I know everything about you, little Winchester.”

“Care to fucking enlighten me?” I growled, my eyes snapping around.

“I’m afraid you’re not yet strong enough.” He paused. “I am unable to show myself to you unless you have full control over your power. Time is running out, little Winchester.”

“The fuck does that even mean?”

“You must get stronger and inherit the burden of your family. Only you have the power to stop Onodero’s return.”

“Hah? The fuck is an Onodero? And what fucking burden? Oi, answer me!”

But the silence rung in my ears. He didn’t answer me.

それ以上に上昇 ☆ Third Person

Todoroki’s eyes widened as her strained voice reached his ears, but he and the other boys were frozen in place at the flaming dragon that hovered above her body, roaring angrily as it set the world ablaze around it. Her body was covered in black flames, burning her skin and eating through her jeans.

She was no longer in control of her quirk.

Toshi cursed, his fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t have the strength to stop her and with Aizawa out of the picture… he didn’t know how to handle this situation.

Todoroki bit his lip as he remembered her haunting words, ‘If I lose control of my quirk… you gotta freeze my body, understand?’ He didn’t like the idea, but he saw no other option. His fists clenched as he stepped forward. Ice surged forward from his right foot, approaching her body at an alarming speed. The dragon noticed, breathing fire at the ice and beating its wings quickly, the gust of wind making him stumble backward.

His eyes narrowed as he lowered his body to the ground. ‘Sorry about this, Winchester…’ His hand swept around his body, sending a wall of ice barreling toward her. The dragon roared loudly, flipping in the air before dive-bombing straight into her body. She screamed in pain as the flames absorbed into her. The sound of glass breaking reached his ears as the shattered pieces of her tank top appeared around her, slowly molding together on her body.

Her body was smoking, skin bright red as she fell to the ground.

Tomura’s right arm was badly burnt. When he tried to stand, he was shot once in each of his limbs. The pros had arrived, but even they couldn’t prevent the warp gate from fleeing the scene with Tomura.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

My whole body is numb and I can’t move.

My eyes fluttered open, a barely audible groan passing my lips as light filled my vision.

“Take it easy, kid.”

That’s Snipe’s voice. I’m on his back?

His hands squeezed my thighs softly, a comforting gesture on his part. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna get you to Recovery Girl. You’ll be fine.”

I took in a few short gasps of breath, my body jolting from the pain in my ribs. “Is… everyone okay?”

“All of the students are fine, with the exception of Izuku Midoriya. He’s being taken to Recovery Girl with All Might.” He paused a moment. “Eraserhead and Thirteen are in more serious condition and have been rushed to the hospital.”

It took some serious coaxing on my part, but I finally managed to lift my arms to wrap around the front of his neck, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry… for not being stronger…”

He squeezed my thighs again. “It’s not your fault, kiddo.”

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

“Well, I guess I won’t scold you for him being back here since it wasn’t your fault.” Granny sat at her desk, her voice soft as she looked over the three of us.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think I shortened my time limit again with that fight.” Toshi was laying in the bed closest to her desk, his legs too long to fit the bed properly. “I hope I can at least still hold the form for an hour.”

“I’m so sorry…” Izuku was in the bed beside him, right under the window. An I.V. was connected to his arm, the soft dripping filling the room.

“Well, no use worrying.” Toshi sat up. “These things happen.”

I was lying in the bed across from Midoriya, the curtains drawn over the window. To be honest, I’m not really sure how I’m feeling right now. Helpless, maybe? No, that’s not quite it. I feel… confused as all hell. And I feel bad for Toshi. And Aizawa and Thirteen. Those three took the most damage because I wasn’t strong enough to help them. And then I lost control… I’m fucking lucky no one got hurt because of me.

The door slid open and a man in a trenchcoat entered, removing his fedora as he closed the door behind him. “Excuse me. Hi, All Might. Been a while.”

“What the hell?” Toshi spit up blood in surprise. “I didn’t know that you were investigating.”

“Woah, All Might! It’s okay he’s seeing you like this?” Izuku panicked.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s fine. This guy’s alright. Naomasa Tsukauchi. My best friend on the police force, he’s legit. I trust him.”

“Haha, that’s quite an introduction. Sorry to cut to the chase, but we could really use any information you might have.”

“Hold on, before all that. Tell me all the students are okay! And Aizawa – er, Eraserhead. And Thirteen.”

I pushed myself up, also eager for that answer.

“Not counting these two,” He waved his head toward me and Izuku. “The only student injuries were scrapes and both of the teachers are in stable condition right now. Relax.”

We all breathed a sigh of relief at the news. Zawa… I’m so fucking glad you’re okay.

“That’s good to hear,” Toshi responded.

“If you heroes hadn’t risked your lives, the students never would have made it. You three saved that entire class of kids today.”

My eye twitched in annoyance. Ex-fucking-cuse me? What the fuck are me and Izuku, fucking chop liver? I mean sure, we didn’t do much, but at the very least we acted as damn good distractions. I think I did a good job acting as a punching bag in place of those kids. At least give us credit for that, you bastard!

“You’re not seeing the whole picture, Tsukauchi. Those students also risked their lives. They fought as hard as us.”

“Thank you, All Might…”

“Yeah, thanks for rememberin’ us peasants!” I grinned, giving him a thumbs up. Izuku smiled at that, which was a nice change from the sad expression he’s had since he woke up.

Toshi smiled at us. “I don’t think there’s ever been a group of first-years who experienced a real fight like this so early in their training. They not only survived, they learned what it means to be a pro. Those villains made a mistake attacking them. This class is strong. They’re filled with courage and drive.”

Pride swelled within me at his words. Man, you can be so cool sometimes, Tosh! I exchanged a look with Granny and she sent me an encouraging smile, nodding her head.

“Mark my words; they’ll become great heroes.” Toshi gave us both a proud smile, giving us a thumbs up.

I couldn’t hold back the bright smile spreading across my face as I fell back onto the bed, hands folded behind my head. No matter what, I’ll keep getting stronger and pushing myself to my limit and beyond.

For you Gramps, and… for you, Toshinori.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

I glanced at Toshi as he pushed open the door to Aizawa’s hospital room. He was lying in bed, both arms covered with thick bandages. His face was also covered, leaving slits for his eyes and nostrils. He glanced at us with tired, half-lidded eyes when we entered.

I smiled softly, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “You look like hell, Zawa.”

“I don’t even have the energy to glare at you right now.” He spoke, his voice muffled by the bandages. Toshi sat in the chair beside the bed, while I sat on the side of the bed, bringing my knee up and turning my body so I could face both of them. They were giving me their undivided attention.

I cleared my throat, focusing my attention on a loose piece of thread on my jeans. “During the Quirk Assessment test, I freaked out. I told you that I didn’t know why or what happened, but that was a lie. Dark Shadow, Fumikage’s quirk… he looks a lot like that damn warp gate, Kurogiri. The day that I arrived in this world… I had returned home to find Gramps on the floor, dead. Stabbed to death. There were two men there that day. That fucking dickbag Gravedigger, the one that looks like Golem that I fought – he’s the one that killed Gramps -, and Kurogiri.”

My hands balled into fists and Toshi reached forward, resting a bony hand over my own.

I took a deep breath. Damn it feels nice to be able to breathe without pain. “Kurogiri’s body filled the living room, it was all I could see as he warped me away from my home. When Shadow surprised me that day, something in me just… snapped. I saw the darkness again, and Gramps’ lifeless body flashing in my mind and I just… I dunno, I blacked out for a minute or somethin’. It sounds pretty stupid now, kinda childish…” I scratched my cheek. “Sorry for lying to you guys.”

“It’s not stupid, young Jen. It was a traumatic event, it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to relive it by talking about it.”

“I guess,” I leaned my head back to stare at the white ceiling. “He knew my name… Kurogiri. Said he came to take me back home. I have a feeling that I wasn’t meant to land in front of you, Tosh. I broke out of the warp, no fucking idea how. And during the fight at the USJ, when he scattered the students across the facility, he dropped me right in front of Tomura. The bastard said I look just like Alissa, said it in a real creepy way too. And then he said I may look like her but I don’t have her personality. Like, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? Bastard. He was also adamant that Gravedigger not kill me.”

The two exchanged a look and Aizawa sighed deeply.

“They were gonna take me, weren’t they?”

“Most likely, yes…” Toshi lowered his head.

“Why did he want me alive, though? You can’t get revenge on someone that’s dead. They went out of their way to find me in a different fucking world and bring me back here, but why? Just to kill me? That seems like a bit of a stretch.”

Toshi’s hands formed fists around his baggy pants.

“Tell her,” Aizawa grunted, closing his eyes.

I watched Toshi, but he refused to meet my gaze as he spoke up. “I wasn’t… completely honest about your mother.”

A drop of sweat rolled down my cheek. Oh, fuck me…

“While it is true that Alissa was a pro hero… she wasn’t always one. She… was a villain for most of her life.”

“A… villain?”

Bitch, huh!?

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

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ephemeral-afterlight · 4 years

Note

Hngh I want to know what happens next in superhero au so bad

previous part

they have a lair. they have an actual, real life lair. a superhero lair hidden underground about a mile outside the city, underneath an old factory that virgil wouldn't have looked twice at had he not been lead by the others through the gate. in the doors, down hallways, through yet another gate, down a long, long flight of spiral stairs, into a dark room, through a locked mechanical door that whirs open courtesy of codebreaker, and into the huge room that looks like something straight out of a science fiction movie. they have a lair, in 2019. virgil feels like he's just stepped straight into an alternate dimension.

"sit," the ringleader tells him as he walks by, cane tapping and echoing in the huge room at slow, uniform intervals. virgil’s wide-eyed wonder draws a giggle from the medic, of whom comes up to him with a hop in his step and peers at him with knowing eyes. he leans forward with his hands clasped behind his back, rolling back and forth from the ball of his foot to the heel in giddiness. his skirt swishes with the motion, seemingly just as lively as the man himself is, and virgil finds it almost comforting despite the simultaneous annoyance at the cheery disposition.

“want some nutrient-infused water? it’s got lots of vitamins and stuff that’s good for you in it! and it tastes like strawberries!” the medic asks, not stopping to wait for virgil’s answer before producing a small bottle the size of his palm from the inside of his cape. at first, virgil wonders incredulously if he keeps little water bottles hidden in tiny cape pockets for spur-of-the-moment use, but then the medic sticks his fist out to drop the bottle into virgil’s hand and his cape flutters open to reveal something that looks like a fanny pack strapped to his chest just above the bottom of his ribcage. it has a heart and cross symbol identical to the ones on his waist and shoes, and virgil realizes that it must be some sort of first aid kit or medical pack.

“oh, uh--” virgil starts, about to decline, but the small frown that forms on the medic’s face makes him feel too guilty to pass it up. with a laboured sigh, virgil accepts the bottle, bringing it up closer to his face to examine it. it looks pretty normal, like water that’s lightly tinted pink. the bottle itself is more like a vial, just without the rounded bottom. this could easily be poison, but they are superheroes, and virgil doubts that heroes would go as far as to try to kill him, even if they’re not completely convinced he’s not their enemy.

as virgil pops the cap off sinks into the chair the ringleader provided him, the scent of the water wafts up toward him almost immediately. it’s potent, but it doesn’t smell bad, necessarily. artificial strawberry assaults his senses, overpowering him in a way that reminds him of the awful, cavity-inducing candies he used to steal from his grandma’s purse and munch on when he was younger. it’s not exactly like how he’d expect poison or chemicals to smell, but then again, a lot of poison isn’t supposed to smell like anything, so.

even though he really, really doesn’t want to drink this stuff, the medic is staring him down expectantly, bright blue puppy dog eyes boring into his soul. it’s like those eyes have picked him up and laid him in clouds, pulled a warm blanket over him and wished him goodnight. a crackling fireplace, hot chocolate and marshmallows, fuzzy socks and hardwood floors and fluffy rugs. it’s like looking into his eyes washes all of his worry away, like they pull out all of his sorrow and hardship and leave him with only pure warmth, and virgil realizes with a jolt that he’s already downed the whole bottle without even feeling it.

upon seeing the now-drained bottle in his hand, empty save for a few trace amounts of leftover liquid, virgil winces. he waits for something to go wrong, to feel a burning in his throat or a headache or to faint or even for him to just flat-out die, but there’s none of that. just the effluvious tang of an offensive mockery of strawberry flavouring coating his mouth and throat. virgil wrinkles his nose and glares at the clear bottle as if it personally threatened him.

“hey, med, come check the counter with me, ‘kay?” the prince says suddenly, an unreadable look flashing in his golden eyes as he watches the two of them before being masked by friendliness when his gaze meets virgil’s own. virgil’s suspicion goes nowhere, seemingly dissolves into thin air when the medic lays a comforting hand on his shoulder through the dark cloak. his touch almost burns with warmth, infuses him with calm, and virgil’s lashes flutter under the weight of his sudden onslaught of sleepiness. then the medic is gone, disappears through another one of those weird high-tech spaceship doors with the prince, and the haze over virgil’s mind slowly begins to clear.

“you say you are not the storm. who are you, then?” the codebreaker suddenly speaks up, smooth voice drifting over from his spot at some sort of panel. it glows brightly, so blinding virgil can’t make out any kind of images or words that it might display, and yet codebreaker somehow seems to be interacting with it effortlessly. he floats there in front of it despite there being a chair right beside him, back hunched and knees pulled up to his chest. his head is tilted, rests on his shoulders as if he’s too weary to hold it up, and his eyes only flit to virgil once before returning to observe the panel in front of him through his hologram face-screen thingy.

“don’t look at the console for too long. it’s not healthy. code-y over there is the only one who can actually see what’s on it. his holovisor has some sort of light filter, or something,” the ringmaster remarks to virgil’s left, leaning on his cane with an air of boredom that virgil doesn’t think is very fair to display. he inspects his nails like he has somewhere better to be, but he’s wearing gloves, so it just ends up making him look weird. then again, the michievous look in his eyes has a hint of knowing to it, so maybe he’s trying to look stupid on purpose just to fuck with him.

“i’m… my name is virgil. im just a guy, man. like i said, i work at a shitty job and still live with my parents. i’m not some… crazy evil supervillain,” virgil tells them, and funnily enough, that desperation he’s been feeling this entire time seems to have completely vanished. he’s wary, but not afraid, which is completely different to how he was feeling just thirty minutes ago.

“virgil altera, born to a liliana altera and a harold whitman. mother is an authour who hasn’t been published in nine years, father is the ceo of an insurance company. you were kidnapped from a local park at age four and stayed missing for five years, until you randomly turned up wandering along a highway outside of a town hundreds of miles away. you were badly beaten and starved, yet were somehow able to walk almost perfectly despite your dangerous condition. you remembered nothing about where you had been, and there was no trail to determine the assailant or where they took you. the case went cold, you returned to your parents, and you were enrolled in middle school by the next year. you graduated from high school with no notable achievements, started working as an office temp, and have been presumably been doing the same thing ever since. an odd story for someone who claims to be a ‘normal guy’, don’t you think?”

okay then. so the codebreaker can just somehow get his whole life story in a matter of seconds. it’s fine. this is fine.

the ringleader raises his brow, the one that’s visible, and lets out a disbelieving snort. “kidnapped? beaten? starved? sounds like a villain backstory to me.”

“yes, well. i suppose we should hear from virgil first before making any rash decisions,” the codebreaker says, finally looking up from the screen and straight at him. virgil draws in on himself, pulse quickening with the amount of information they have on him this easily. the chair is hard underneath his legs, of which are slowly going numb, and virgil can feel the air slowly getting colder as his panic increases. neither of them seem to notice, or if they do, they don’t mention it. the ringleader taps a foot impatiently while virgil just stares, silent and fidgety as he tries to figure out what to say.

“i… i don’t really remember any-- any of that stuff. well, i kinda remember walking on the highway, and someone taking me to a police station, but not the-- not anything before that. i’ve tried so hard to remember but the most i got with my therapist was the word ‘hens’ printed on some sort of paper. that’s really all i remember, i promise,” virgil mutters, swallowing hard under the ringleader’s icy look. the codebreaker says nothing, only narrows his eyes slightly as if he’s contemplating something, and then he turns right back around with his coat flapping behind him as he resumes his position at the bright panel. the ringleader huffs once and rolls his eyes, leaning forward and hoisting himself up onto the raised platform the console resides on instead of walking around to the other side and using the set of stairs there.

the two seem to talk in hushed tones to each other, ignoring virgil’s presence completely, something that both irritates him and relieves him. although he wishes they’d stop being so secretive and just tell him what’s going on and how to fix it, he much prefers the disregard than the intense scrutiny. it gives him a moment to breathe, to try to rein in his frustration and panic. instead of speaking up, he decides to look around the room again, takes in the rows and rows of screens and buttons and switches. it all looks extremely high-tech, futuristic, almost, like he’s just boarded an alien spaceship and is now seeing the ship’s control room. glowing blue light comes from everywhere, enhancing the dim atmosphere with something clandestine.

“alright. if you’re not the storm, then why do you have the same powers? how’d you deflect my whips?” the ringleader asks loudly, snapping virgil out of his reverie. his face is mostly neutral, but there’s a hint of annoyance underneath that suggests a bruised ego. virgil jumps to his feet and stands at attention, something in the ringleader’s tone making him afraid of what will happen if he doesn’t pay attention. “because from what we saw, the storm was fighting us like normal, and then suddenly stopped in the middle of an attack and just dropped out of the sky. we thought it was a trick, so we all fell in and approached together. but instead of an ambush, you were just standing there on the ground not even acknowledging us. i tried to attack, you blocked it, and then instead of dodging princey’s punch, you cowered. so if you truly aren’t the storm, then why do you look like him? why do you have the same body, the same clothes, the same face and voice? why can you use the same powers?”

and virgil honestly doesn’t know what to say. he fell out of the sky? how is he even alive right now?

“i… i don’t know, okay?! all i know is that i woke up standing on that street. you tried to hit me with those glow-y whip thingies, so i tried to put my hands up so it wouldn’t hit my face, and then fucking lightning came out of my hands! i didn’t do it on purpose! how the fuck am i supposed to know? if i did, i wouldn’t have walked this whole time with these stupid bandages on my feet instead of shoes! and now my feet have rocks in them and i’m bleeding and i think my leg is hurt somehow and i feel like i’m gonna pass out any minute and i’m just tired! i want to go home! i want to go back to my stupid boring desk job and live my stupid boring life! i’m not a villain! i’m not… i’m not a killer,” virgil chokes out, voice breaking before he can truly end his rant. and it’s true, his feet do hurt. they feel blistered, sore, sting with the specific type of pain reserved for a cut. his right leg is throbbing, shaky like it could give out any minute, and his arms are so weak he can barely raise them above waist-level. he’s hungry, and angry, and he just wants to sleep. he probably looks like a zombie right now, and he feels like it too.

“wait! you’re hurt?! why didn’t you tell me? that water just isn’t enough to heal you,” the medic’s familiar voice comes as a worried exclamation from the direction of the door he and the prince disappeared into, and virgil turns to see both of them re-entering the room. the prince looks confused, and the medic immediately jumps into action, fretting over him with small touches here and there that alleviate just a little bit of the ache. virgil is pushed gently back into the chair, and then the medic’s gloves are tapping indeterminable patterns into his blood-stained pant leg. it hurts for a moment, feels like a burning sensation as the little hearts on the pads of his glove fingers glow, but then he can feel an odd numbness taking over everything else. he can feel his skin stitching itself back up, his muscles releasing tension, the nerves calming down. it leaves him exhausted, the medic perhaps even more so, what with the way he lets out a strained breath and wobbles to fall down to sit back on the floor. the prince immediately shoots over and kneels behind the other superhero, propping him up to sit at a more normal angle while he catches his breath, and virgil almost feels kinda bad that he sacrificed so much of his energy to help him.

“hey, are you-- are you messing with my emotions?” virgil asks, and the medic looks at him inquisitively from where he��s sitting on the floor in front of the chair. his skirt is spread out around him, draped over his legs and the glassy, reflective black floor. virgil doesn’t really know how a skirt is practical in battle, but he’s not exactly the expert here, so.

“of course! that’s what i do. you were scared, so i made you relaxed instead!” the medic tells him, happy eyes and happy smiles and despite his previous calm, virgil feels annoyance prick at his chest.

“don’t do that. that’s not cool,” virgil says, voice hard, and this time, he feels even more guilty when the medic shrinks in on himself meekly. the prince narrows his eyes dangerously, posture raising in warning, and virgil doesn’t pay him a single bit of attention despite his own fear. “i get that you’re trying to help, but i don’t want you to do that to me without my permission. it just confuses me and makes me tired. please don’t do it unless i say you can, alright?”

his voice is much softer this time, less accusatory, and his gentler approach is obviously the correct one. the medic perks up again, eyes wide as he nods vigorously, and he squeaks out a small “sorry! i’ll be more careful!” before placing his fingers on another bruise and repeating the process of healing all over again. the prince slumps back, still on guard but less confrontational, and the quiet resumes.

eventually, after a couple more rounds of this, filled with the medic ‘tsk’ing at every scrape and gasping at the state of his soles, virgil feels like he can actually stay conscious again. the medic looks a little rough, like he could pass out any second, so the prince picks him up bridal-style with ease and says something about “saving the damsel in distress”. the medic’s weary giggles echo all the way down the corridor for a few long moments after the two of them leave, presumably to rest elsewhere.

“i have come to the conclusion that you are the villain known as ‘the storm’,” the codebreaker says stoically once the noise completely vanishes. the ringleader’s head snaps over to look at him, surprised enough to stumble a bit on his cane, although he rights himself and resumes his put-together appearance as quickly as possible anyway. the words are like a knife through virgil’s heart, an electrified death sentence. they didn’t listen. they didn’t believe him. there’s no way he’s making it out of here. he’s gonna be a prisoner the rest of his life, paying the price and enduring the punishment for a crime he didn’t commit. “the evidence put together all suggests that you are the storm, and you do have powers. you admitted to using them yourself, albeit unintentionally. by all accounts, you are a powered individual and the villain we have been fighting for the past three years.

“however, i don’t believe that this is the full story. i think there’s more to it, that there has to be something else we’re missing. although i have not come to an agreement within myself on whether i believe you are completely innocent yet, i believe that you believe what you are saying, and that you think your version of events is the truth. if you truly do not remember this, remember being the storm and fighting us and wreaking havoc, then many questions have been raised that must be addressed. why do you not remember your villainous activities? why were you unaware that you have powers in the first place? is this the work of someone else? if so, then who? what is their goal? why are they using you as an intermediary for their influence? there is much to think about, and i cannot waste any more time just standing around,” the codebreaker finishes, ramblings coming to an abrupt halt as his holovisor drops open in front of his eyes again and he starts swiping and tapping at the bright console for the third time. virgil wants to know exactly what it is he’s doing over there, but he doesn’t really think he’s in the position to ask at the moment.

“for now, i’d like you, prince, and medic to train him. show him how to use his powers, and how to fight. he could be a viable asset and potentially act as a stand-in to fight villains while i work,” codebreaker commands pointedly at the ringleader, of whom opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something, but decides against it and simply nods.

“alright. virgil, right? come with me. i hope you don’t have anyone waiting for you at home, because you’re staying here for the time being,” the ringleader tells him, a snarky grin plastered on his face as he turns to stride over to the same door that the prince and the medic left through. virgil just stands there, mouth agape, unable to process everything that’s happening. he’s staying here? in the weird superhero lair? he’s gonna live underneath an old factory in this weird sci-fi spaceship bunker until they… what? figure out why he’s the storm, why he has powers? are they going to help him finally figure out what happened to him when he was a kid?

“are you coming?” the ringleader asks, voice low and seductive, but not in the way virgil is used to hearing from his misogynist coworkers in the break room. his voice doesn’t promise sex, or money, or fame. it promises adventure, promises answers, and virgil groans internally when he realizes that there’s absolutely no way he could ever say no to that.

small taglist: @illogical-anxieties @kazykazu @sharp-as-hyalus @bookwyrminspiration @thekitchenpan @bunny222

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flyswhumpcenter · 5 years

Text

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. I don’t have any request left, so feel free to send in suggestions for this card!).

I'm getting flack for Empathic Dissonance on Fanfiction.net but I don't give a shit, Peregrineshipping will live beyond this show's grave fuckers

Oh look it's that one other AU I keep brushing dust off without actually doing anything of substance with it except invent new ways to slap characters I don't own into it. And because I got severely annoyed by some twats trolling on my FFN posts (why am I posting on this site anymore anyway smh), I made sure this fic was obviously Peregrineshipping. They're right when they tell you people write because they're either horny or spiteful.

To casually explain how mages ("magical girls") work here: there are three categories (spell caster, weapon user and healer), and there are Hybrids who are a combination between two of those three. Hybrids are chased down by bounty hunters because they're deemed to be special unicorns. Each mage also represents a Symbol or an Arcana (they're the same: the Arcana system is just deeper with more details on it and it's mostly in Latin) Everything else is spoilers. I am not kidding, I may very well write this bullshit out one of these days. I'm also gonna pull out my "it's fine if they're OOC because it's an AU" card I got from a fellow IoTsumu shipper (who's most likely not gonna read this), because I decided I'd be super self-indulgent today.

Also, big thanks to my pal Cherie for providing me with that sweet, sweet prompt. It's always a pleasure to write Peregrineship and dab on the haters lmao.

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Moonbeams in the Lunar Eclipse

Summary: There's one thing sure in Shun's mind as he escapes from his pursuers with his partner's wrist in his hand: he won't leave this place alone.

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (magical people AU, see notes above) Ship: Peregrineshipping (Serena/Shun) (established, mostly implied)

Wordcount: 1.8K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

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Saying his day has been absolute shit so far would be an understatement. In fact, he’s sure he’s not had such a shitty day in his life before: getting pursued by a bunch of bounty hunters, with feet bitten off by spells and wounds all over their bodies, tattered colourful outfits shredding little by little on the ground and in the air, really isn’t something he’s ever liked, or ever wanted to experience; but here they are, pursued by a bunch of crazies with their lives in their hands as they try to make it out without losing everything they’ve had.

For Shun, the only things he’s ever gotten were his liberty, his sister, his best friend and Serena; and he’s not intending on losing two of these now.

The streets of this city they don’t know smother him softly, slowly, giving him this sense of dizziness from the oxygen running out of his lungs the deeper they get. He isn’t familiar with that place, they’ve arrived there in a hurry because Ruri and Yuto went after an important lead in their hunt against those who chase and kill the Hybrids (reckless kids, he can’t help thinking: they’re Hybrids themselves, they’re going to get themselves killed and nothing else), and he has no idea as to where they could go to take shelter until these people forget about them.

They’re running out of everything. He barely has enough breathing and energy left to run in the streets like he’s currently doing, enough mana to keep the hunters away, enough eyes to watch over Serena and make sure she doesn’t get left behind in this urban labyrinth. The inside of his palm misses her warmth too much for him to give up on her. He may be clinging onto his sense of orientation more for her and their mission than for his own sake, at this point.

Shun spots a corner sunk in darkness next to his feet, yanking his hand back on Serena’s forearm (who is nearer to him than he thought, she’s faster than expected, that’s finally something he can be relieved about, it’s been a while), shrouding them in the shadows of the night and hoping their chasers don’t spot her body illuminated by solitary moonlight beams suddenly disappearing by swiping to the right. He keeps a hand on her mouth just in case, yellow irises focused on the scene before them, ears on alert; until he can’t hear anything but their breathing, hers muffled by his hand, his barely in control, footsteps vanishing into thin air.

He lets her go, watching her put her back against the wall to examine her injuries closer. Selena’s palms start glowing in a feeble blue light, just enough for him to see her swollen left ankle and cuts all over her body and outfit, blood red and fabric red somewhat mixing in the dark of the night as they silently pray for nobody to come back until they’ll be fine enough to get back to their feet and find shelter somewhere Ruri knows (she’s waiting for them at the end of the maze, he knows it).

They’re breathless, yet the echoing silence makes him uncomfortable. He has problems hearing her over his shallow breath, a hand pressed against the stab wound a billhook got on his abdomen, his second skin having ran out of mana on him way before they could have escaped from these vultures’ claws. The thing is that he can still walk, still get out of here if he ignores the pain enough, if he focuses his mind on the job at hand. The issue relies not on him, but on the fact he cannot guarantee everyone around him is in the same condition. Who cares about a little blood and a few cuts when your legs can still get you somewhere safer, better?

It’s in those moments that Shun regrets being a mere spell caster when he could have been much more; and he gets jealous of Ruri’s healing powers until he remembers the pain it causes her. He misses her more than he envies her anyway: he’s supposed to protect her, not the opposite way around.

“Are you good to go, Serena…?” He asks her with a dry mouth and a voice smelling like dizziness. Maybe he’s lost more blood than he can remember from the attacks. The dark ground and lack of light makes it hard to judge how much of it he’s spilled onto the ground with no hope to get it back.

“Leave without me,” she tells him like she’s dropping a canon ball right above his head, eyes cold but eyebrows frowned, and he knows that because his eyes have developed some kind of night vision. Not that anyone would have associated him with any form of light power; yet he was, somehow, some way, able to illuminate his path and see in the dark, when he had enough stamina left.

Right now, he feels like what little endurance he had left had come back full force, rage engulfing his nerves in a rush of adrenaline.

“What the hell are you saying?!” His voice rises in tone and volume, ignoring the walls amplifying the sounds bouncing amongst them, but her face doesn’t change, none of her features bulge even slightly.

“Leave without me, Shun. I’ll only slow you down. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you fucking with me?! How can you possibly tell me that when we’ve come so far together, when we’re supposed to be a team?! We’re even more than that, we’re alone together in some wastelands neither of us knows, you’re—”

“Listen to what I’ve got to say before screaming your head out, Kurosaki!”

Serena’s sudden bite at his monologue stops him right in his tracks, stealing his speech away, the adrenaline skipping a beat and going straight for his twitching hands and head. He’s furious, but silent now. That’s the only thing it’s done against him that he can account for.

That, and a lingering feeling of betrayal giving his heart frostbite burning, scorching at his insides’ skin. His blood feels poisoned, he wonders if he’s slipping into sceptic shock.

“Look at me! My ankle’s busted, I’ve run out of mana to shoot things, and we’re both bleeding. There’s no point in risking dying here if it’s just to get me out of this mess when I’m no use to you anymore. Get outta here before you can bleed out to death, that’s all I want you to do! I’ll only slow you down, so please,” she retains a sob inside, the sob of the person who’s seen the frontier between what is life and what isn’t for the first time and couldn’t get prepared for it (nobody could), “please leave without me, Shun!”

“…that’s bullshit.”

Serena’s eyes grow wide, her mouth moving to say something only to stop midway through the process to do so, her face split between anger and surprise. In the end, she sniffles in her last few tears and stares right at him.

“I’m not leaving you in some dump because you can’t walk properly or something. We’ll get out of this together, even if we have to limp or drag ourselves on the damn fucking floor for it to happen. That place’s not safe, we need to get you to safety?”

“And what about you, Shun? Are you going to go ahead and back on your footsteps to avenge Ruri? Are you going to do that to me… to all of us again?”

She has a point there; he can’t tell himself otherwise.

“Are you kidding? I’m bleeding the fuck out. I’m not sure if I can even escape from this place alone, my vision’s starting to swim if I move too quickly.” He scoffs, at himself more than at her eventually useless remark. “It’s dark as fuck around here and I don’t want you to have some stupid death by hypothermia or something like that. It’s either we die in this hole or we leave together. I won’t abandon anyone else, not after almost losing Ruri once.”

He takes her hands, wet from their clamminess and cold, in his as if that enforces his point (it doesn’t, really, but her palms are warmer than his and he just wants to touch her, to feel her skin under her gloves while he still can).

“But we’ll leave together, that much I want to promise. I can’t promise it’ll be smooth or fun, but I can promise we’ll try our damn best to escape.”

“You’re strangely forward today,” she ends up replying with a smirk, “but I like it. You should be like that more often.”

“Don’t fucking make fun of me.”

“I’m not.”

They have a short moment of silence before Serena speaks up again.

“How do you plan to get us how out of there, though? It’s not like I can properly walk anymore.”

Before she can add anything else, he gives her his back, hands right above his pelvis, fingers twitching up. Communication has never been his forte, and Serena sure knows that, so he’s trying to do something about that, even if it just ends up being terribly embarrassing for the both of them.

“Climb here.”

“Shun, that’s stupid, you’re injured! You won’t be able to—”

“Get on here before I force you to get there myself.”

She sighs in exasperation and does as he says, his arms sticking her legs against his torso. He has troubles adapting his balance to the new weight on his back, especially when his knees have scrapped the ground before and when he’s weakened already. Still, he pulls through and forces his legs to stay stable as he starts walking.

The heartbeat he feels next to his, too fast for a human in their right condition but still slower than his, is worth it. She has her arms wrapped around his shoulder blades, purple and red fabric brushing against his own outfit. He can’t hope to use his wings when he’s like this, with a human body over where they’d grow with a spell and retract when its effects would end, but it’s fine. It’s fine because they’ll make it out of there, as long as they’re together, as long as he can hear her ask him if he’s fine or he’d need a break. In a way, Serena is the beam of clarity piercing through the night ocean laid before all of them, the one whose presence he needs the most right now. She’s his partner and role model at the same time.

Because, if there’s one thing Shun hopes to become someday, it’s a beacon of light in the darkness.

#bad things happen bingo #arc-v #peregrineshipping #shun kurosaki #serena (arc v)#angst #tension #injury #escape #au: osas #bthb 2

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dragonindigo245 · 5 years

Text

Paper Stars (Sanders Sides AU)

Hey so this is one of my few fanfics I wrote. It’s admittedly not great but after @fangirltothefullest made a story description for an AU... I just wanted to do something. I hope it’s alright! ^^

Wattpad version: https://my.w.tt/oXfIWECDpY

Post this was based off of: https://fangirltothefullest.tumblr.com/post/186271732555/paper-stars-for-the-fic-titles

Warnings: Lil bit depressing but otherwise it’s completely fine!

Word count: 1555

Tag: @theitalianalchemist

11:03pm January 14th

The desk clocks time was two minutes behind but it was close enough. Patton sat up from his bed and sighed. He couldn't sleep knowing this would be his last day in the orphanage. It was a pretty crappy orphanage but 12 years of memories really makes you nostalgic of the few good times. Patton stared at his jar on the same end table as the clock. It was half full with little blue colored stars he made. Each of them made to symbolize a wish, a dream, a hope that he wanted. None of them had ever come true for him. Patton sighed and grabbed the jar before making his way out of his room.

He swiftly went up to the top floor and came to a ladder as well as a latch that lead to the roof. Patton climbed up and sat on the roof like he often did when sleep was absent. It was a surprisingly cold night for Florida and the sky was open. Patton hugged his jar close.

17 years old, going on 18. Hard to believe. Getting to go make a living for himself. Course he had no job, or money, or a place to stay or food, let alone any plan whatsoever, but at least he could get out of this place... right?

Forget it.

Patton had lived his whole life being optimistic. He didn't know how he could possibly be anymore. He was done, going to spend his life on the streets, dive in the dumpster for a meal, beg on the streets forever. Patton stood up and gripped his jar. Was he angry? Sad? Scared? Confused? Maybe all of those. He couldn't tell but he didn't care. Wishes get you nowhere. All they do is build false hope for you to get hurt from.

Patton looked at the jar in his hand while standing back up. So much for this. Spent his life making stupid paper shapes. He held the jar up high and threw it as hard as he could onto the roof, breaking the glass and sending stars flying. He turned away from the broken remains with his eyes welling up with water.

Patton remembered the days when he was happy still. Those stars he learned to make when he was five and still with a family. He remembered the skill all the way into the orphanage. His little brain remembering the fairytales about people wishing on stars, he would make his own and wish on them. Eventually he had so much he could fill a jar, then five, then a dozen. No matter how hard he wished, no dream came true. At 15 he started giving the stars away to little kids, telling them to wish upon its papery cover and it will come true. He gave away all his stars except that half empty jar. Those stars bringing joy for a few moments... it was comforting when he made them. He would be comforted when the kids faces lit up. Hope was destructive, but it's comforting anyways.

Patton realized he made a mistake. He turned around to find the stars all blowing away off the roof. He ran after them panicked, yelling, "No wait! Please! It's all I have left!" The wind doesn't answer to anyone though and they all flew away, leaving Patton in tears. He finally let the warm drops fall down his face. Stupid. Shouldn't have gotten so angry. A tear fell off his face and landed on something that sounded like... paper? Patton looked down to see a single little star, dark blue with light blue stripes, trapped under his foot. He moved his foot and picked it up. Pat flashed a smile before sitting down and holding it close to his chest.

It was stupid but he began to wish on it. In a soft voice he pleaded, "Please... I wish... I wish that if I can't be happy, I want to make others happy. I know none of my wishes come true but... please..." His voice cracked at the last word. The tears blurred his vision and he began to fully sob. He put a hand over his mouth to muffle it even though nobody could hear it. It was instinct for him. He cried for a good long while before he heard a warm and comforting voice speak to him.

"Hey... it's alright buddy... just breathe."

Patton jumped and looked up. There was a pale, almost white, figure crouched to his level in front of him. They had purple hair and a patched black and purple hoodie. Their face had eye shadow under their eyes and showed empathy. Strange Patton didn't hear them sooner. He wiped one of his eyes and tried to talk normally despite it coming out shakily. "S-sorry I didn't hear you come onto the roof. Who are you?"

The pale man shrugged and sat down next to Patton. "People call me Anxiety cause of how I suddenly appear without warning. Feel free to call me whatever." Patton sniffled and stared confused at him. "Anxiety? Well that's not a nice name exactly. Don't you have a name your parents gave you?" Anxiety shook his head. "Nope. Don't got parents. Didn't bother to name myself really." Patton sighed and stared up at the stars for a second. "Remy... no... how about I call you Virgil?" Virgil nodded. "Sure I like that one. Don't mind you calling me that." Patton smiles and looks at him. "I take it you're an orphan then."

"Not exactly."

"You have a family then?"

"Nope. I'm not really family material."

"Why's that?"

"I'm an astral being I suppose. Not god level but born with a star."

Patton raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that? That's impossible." "Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes." Virgil took Pattons blue paper star from his hoodie pocket and held it up to him, who in response gasped and looked down at his hands to find the star truly was gone. "Hey! Give it back!" Virgil smiled. "Fine take it back if you don't want your wish that is." Patton stopped and stared at Virgil in slight shock. No way he could know about that. Virgil turned the star over and in his hands. "Thought so. Anyways I'm here to grant your wish buddy. Lucky you! You wanna help others and I know just the thing to help you. However you have some terms and conditions. One, You have to trust me. My magic only works when you have faith in me. If you don't trust me my magic is unable to come to you. Two, you have to swear to use what my magic conjures only for good. I don't help selfish people. Three, you have to pay me. Say I think this star will be nice payment. So how about it Pat? You willing to make your wi-" "Yes! Yes please!"

Patton put a hand over his mouth. "Ah... sorry... didn't mean to... got over excited." Virgil waved him away. "Eh don't worry about it. Isn't like this is a run of the mill offer. Comes around once a lifetime you know. So anyways, I got a plan. I'll allow you to feel others emotions. Just by looking at a person you'll know what their feeling. You can help people who are feeling negatively to cheer up. Could be sitting and talking to them or offering them something. Even if you're not content, you can cheer others up." Patton's eyes lit up. "Alright! You wanted me to follow your rules in exchange right?" Virgil nodded in response and stretched out his hand. "If you're sure you want it, shake my hand to seal the deal."

Patton didn't think twice before taking Virgil's hand into his own and shaking it. Pats star flew out of Virgil's other hand and glowed a bright blue. The star becoming specks of light that flew around Patton before going inside his body. The world suddenly seemed to become darker besides Virgil who seemed to be brighter? Slightly glowing. Patton instantly knew Virgil was anxious and happy at the same time, like it was a normal thing to simply know ones emotions. As natural as knowing up and down. His face filled with wonder and he felt happy. It was subtle happiness but it felt good finally being truly happy. Virgil snickered and he was less on edge. "Well you certainly perked up." Patton nodded and clenched his fists excitedly. "Yeah! This is so cool! You really are amazing Virgil! I don't know how I can possibly repay you! I mean the stars gone so really I didn't pay you." Virgil smiled softly and put a hand on Patton's shoulder. "You already have. Your believing in me. Nobody's done that before."

They sat together the rest of the night, watching the sun come up on Patton's 18th birthday. Once the orange had faded completely from the sky Patton stood up and walked over to the latch. "Hey Virg... you thinking of staying here a little longer? Not on the roof but um... on Earth. I would like to have some company and maybe... we could be friends?" Virgil smiled and nodded. "Sure! You gotta teach me how to make those paper stars after all!"

#sanders sides #ts morality #ts anxiety #ts patton #ts virgil #paper stars #virgil sanders #patton sanders #morality #anxitey #fanfic

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vera-invenire · 6 years

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VnC Liveblog - Chapter 4

.All chapter liveblogs are linked HERE.

The Case Study of Vanitas, aka, It’s Probably A Really Bad Idea To Get Into Fights With People Called ‘Hellfire Witch’, Boys, I’m Just Saying

Not much to note in the cover art this time -- we’ve got Vanitas’ standard imagery in blues and blacks, with emphasis on the hourglass earring and his eyes. And the gears, through after the airship we haven’t really had much else that was very steampunk-ish in the story. Maybe that’ll change in later chapters.

Re: the eyes -- we know that most vampires have eyes that glow red when they drink or use their powers (I think that’s how it works?) and they have a link to the crimson moon, but Vanitas is human, so even though he’s got a connection to the Vampire of the Blue Moon, his blue eyes might just be a coincidence. (re: for the a e s t h e t i c) (though the color matching with that hourglass is a bit suspect on the symbolic level, so who knows)

We get a bit of a peak at the dynamics in Dante’s crew before we jump back into the action --

Johann is very camp. I wonder if the matching suits were his idea. I like his relationship with Dante, though. Riche seems to be their junior member -- at least Johann is looking out for her.

Uh-oh. Luca’s heading back into the fray.

Chapter title: Memoire 4 Love Femme Fatale

Well, ‘femme fatale’ is Jeanne, that’s pretty clear. But ‘love’? Eh? Are we introducing a romance? Or is this the protective love between Jeanne and Luca?

So, Jeanne’s chasing Noé down the back-alleys of the -- was it the riverfront district? Warehouses, we’re surrounded by warehouses.

She catches his foot!

Noé intercepts! \o/

(’may i throw you back’, pfff)

But Vanitas is no slouch himself, even if he is back to being carried like a kitten.

We already knew that Vanitas was aware of Jeanne’s reputation, but this exchange makes me think he knows a bit more than surface level rumors. But he doesn’t seem up-to-date with the no-killing influence Luca has on her.

Vanitas tells Noé to follow the plan (which we are not privy to) as Jeanne finds them again.

'No’, ‘I refuse’, must be Noé‘s favorite words, he says them so much.

(Can you imagine baby Noé just constantly saying ‘i refuse. i refuse.’ all serious-like whenever someone tried to make him put down his blankie, cuz I’m imagining it, lmao.)

Note: Noé‘s teacher is a scary badass. (also what’s he holding? a cane? a switch?? oi, what was Noé‘s training like)

Meanwhile, Noé feels like he’s finally getting the upper-hand --

Uh-oh.

Pride goeth, etc etc

*sports announcer voice* That’s gotta hurt.

But why’s he looking at his hand? I didn’t notice him holding anything before.

“Now... let’s see.” He and Vanitas still have a plan to enact. Also, hi Riche!

So we haven’t had much time with these three yet, but I’m starting to get a feel for their priorities. Dante would never, ever in a million years admit to anything like fondness for Vanitas, or vice versa, but underneath all the mutual sniping I think there’s a small bond there. A teeny tiny one.

Whereas with Johann -- he honestly doesn’t care about Vanitas one way or another. If V were to be killed in front of them, I think Dante would be shocked and frozen for at least a second while Johann would say, ‘welp, it’s been a lark, toodle-loo’, grab his Two People, and get them all the hell out of there, not bothering to look back.

Riche, I don’t know enough about yet. She mostly registers to me as the rookie of this trio, tbh.

Yes, antagonize the massively powerful warrior who just threw Noé through a brick wall. That’s a good plan. (is this the plan, that would be a terrible plan)

Ooo, history, I love history. I especially love MochiJun’s history and how layered and batshit it can get once the reveals start to hit.

So the vampire-human war happened a long time ago -- how long ago, we don’t know. We know that BlueVampire!Vanitas was alive during that time. We know that Jeanne was alive during that time, but was then put asleep.

(Why? Some thoughts: she was a weapon of war and put away when peace came; she went off the rails and had to be subdued; her being put asleep was a condition of some kind; she wanted to be put under, etc. There’s no way to know what really happened yet, but it’s interesting to think about.)

We also now know that BlueVampire!Vanitas used to tell Vanitas stories about the war that clearly didn’t leave out many details. But that wording...honestly, it sounds like maybe Vanitas was a kid when he heard this? Telling stories is something you usually do with a kid, which might make sense because.human!Vanitas doesn’t look that old. Anything that happened more than a few years ago would slide into ‘kid’ territory.

Which makes me wonder...did BlueVampire!Vanitas raise human!Vanitas? Or teach him, at least? I’d be a neat parallel to Noé and his teacher.

(what if they’re the same person, bwahahaha)

Anyway, back to Vanitas taunting the highly aggravated weapon of mass destruction.

Oooo, he’s about to pull out a special move. And he -- dropped the book?

is that thing really there, or is it, like, symbolic

oh shi-

The gloves are literally about to come off...!

That kid’s got horrible timing.

Ohoho, someone woke up from their nap. Was this part of the plan or is it an interesting complication?

Ow.

...IT WAS A TRICK, you sly dog.

also vampires are monsters, huh? or just curse-bearers and bourreaus? i think this distinction may be a biiiiit important. (is this why you’re always so shocked when Noé does/says something decent, oh boy)

LMAO, oh god, I hope this Greek chorus follows Vanitas around all the time just to drag him, wouldn’t that be amazing

Damn, boy -- he really knows how to work the superior disdain, doesn’t he?

I’m still shaky on how these true names work. Do vampires just fall into types, and that’s what gets warped? You’d think something called a ‘true name’ would be more individual than that.

Oi, Jeanne, you aren’t watching? Though I like Dante being all, ‘whatever, I’ve seen this show before.’

ahahaha, OOPS.

That’s what happens when you let your grandstanding get away from you, bb.

oh hey, look who was lurking nearby and NOT HELPING AT ALL.

“...you must be joking.” in this kind of context is like, one of my favorite lines.

Also damn, Jeanne is a badass.

Yeah, saw that coming.

She really shouldn’t have let Vanitas see how distracted she became when Luca wandered into danger.

*snorts* The Greek chorus doesn’t lie.

It’s a bluff, though; no way would Noé agree to harming the kid.

oh my god.

(”don’t forget to cover his mouth as you would a hostage, like so” akfdsajkfhkjf)

Noé, you are too innocent, too pure.

And she folds like a house of cards.

I don’t think even Vanitas expected this plan to work so well.

Oh, a little bit of crazy eyes there. This is gonna be a Thing, isn’t it? Vanitas, who, as far as we know, owes his loyalty to nothing and no one uses this to kick Jeanne while she’s down.

Heh, wonder what’s gonna happen when Vanitas finds something he wants to protect.

That is definitely a plotting look in his eye. He just saw how to use this to his advantage.

1. um what

2. hey, is this the first time we’ve seen him bare handed? It’s nice to know he doesn’t have actual claws under those gloves.

3. speaking of which, is that ‘my strength is suddenly gone’ bit because there IS something magic-related about his hands, or is she just in shock?

4. that is a very unnerving look. Vanitas, what are you doing

...holy crap, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??

Vanitas what are you doing

Shit, this is why the chapter was called “Love Femme Fatale”, oh geez.

dante, why do you look the most freaked out out of everyone?

Alright, I know Vanitas has been set up as being utterly unscrupulous, what with the lying and taking a little boy as a hostage and using a bloodthirsty monster to do his dirty work, etc, but seriously, someone needs to introduce him to the tenants of the #metoo campaign. Sure, fine, she tried to kill him two minutes ago, but this feels like a line too far.

...

Yeah, this ain’t real. The disdain, the fear, the calculation from before -- that was genuine. This is another bluff.

And I think I know why he’s doing it. Fighting Jeanne made it very clear that she is waaaaay out of his league, strength-wise. He only won through guile, and it’s a trick that might not work again. This woman has a well-earned, blood-soaked reputation, and she was gonna walk away from this fight seeing Vanitas as an enemy to herself and Luca.

But Vanitas saw her weakness -- she lets her bonds with those she cares about distract her. She’s a killer, but she’s sentimental. Emotional.

So, if you’re Vanitas, how do you deal with this, knowing that Jeanne the Hellfire Witch might become a problem for you down the line? How do you plan to defeat a potential foe who is so much stronger than you, someone you could never hope to defeat in a fair fight?

Apparently, if you’re Vanitas, you try to seduce them.

Even if the actual seduction part doesn’t work, you can still mess with her head just enough to make her confused, maybe make her a little more likely to hesitate when it’s time for the gauntlet to finally come down.

And a split-second’s hesitation could be all Vanitas would need to make his counter.

(sidenote: i still think it’s h i l a r i o u s that Dante is the most outraged about all this kissing and love declaration stuff. Noé apparently can’t hear any of this at all, which I think is very convenient. We don’t get to see his reaction to this kind of game until later, apparently.)

Uh-oh. Looks like this kid is powerful and very, very pissed.

“A large-scale “formula” revision” mmhmm, okay, what’s that supposed to mean? Am I getting an explanation for the magic system yet?

Looks like it’s not just Luca keeping Jeanne from going off the rails -- she does the same for him.

Look at that. She’s throwing death threats but now she’s blushing, she sure as hell wouldn’t have been blushing before he kissed her, the stupid plan is working.

And honestly, aggravation and confusion are probably going to work better than actual tender feelings in this seduction. He’s going to play this role to the goddamn hilt.

Look at that face, the jerk.

Alright, that’s a better face.

Noé has no idea what he’s getting into, the poor soul.

(he didn’t have much of a presence in this chapter, did he. maybe Jeanne is mostly going to be a Vanitas subplot instead of a Vanitas-and-Noé subplot)

Apparently we’ve traded one killer on the streets for another. And even more intriguing -- he recognized this killer. ‘Course, now he’s dead, so I don’t know how useful that’s gonna be.

Whimsical creature of darkness! I did not miss you.

The true threat is revealed with a name -- “Charlatan”. But, you know --

(Charlatan: a person who falsely pretends to know or be something.)

-- which makes me think there’s proooobably something else behind this guy. He is a fake, after all. (Though, hey, ‘charlatan’ is a nice contrast with Vanitas the doctor, don’t you think.)

That’s all for chapter 4! What a night, eh?

Next, CHAPTER 5.

#vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #noe #vanitas #vanitas liveblog #someone needs to call vanitas a poseur please it's all i want

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bangchanshehe · 6 years

Text

She’s Not You pt.1

Summary: Taemin was run down, and tired. He had been promoting for his comeback and wasn’t able to spend much time with you at all. But now that he can finally see you he has to pretend that you aren’t dating. But with two different people watching the two of you with interest your faith in each other will be tested.

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Word Count: 3.8k

Taemin boiled in his chair as he watched you smile and laugh with other men during conversation. It made him feel small and some small part of him felt ignored whenever you did that. He didn’t know how to politely ask you to never talk, smile, laugh or touch other men that weren’t him without sounding insane. But with all of his being he wanted nothing more than to blurt those words out to you as you grasped Kai’s shoulder and laughed at his stupid jokes.

You were buckled over as you tried to catch your breath and your face was tinted pink from the laughter and lack of oxygen. Was his joke really that funny?

Taemin shook his head and turned away from the sight of the two of you and decided to move on to something else. As long as you were enjoying the conversation with Kai he was just going to stand there fuming and pouty like a child and he had plenty of other things that he’d rather be doing. He found several other Exo members standing around in a nearby waiting room and took an empty seat.

He knew that your job as a cordi for the company meant that you had to be up close and personal with other groups. And that you were going to make tons of friends with guys and girls with your job, but that didn’t mean that as your boyfriend he couldn’t secretly hate it a little.

He already didn’t want to be here, getting prepared for the comeback stages for his recent album, when he was overworked, exhausted and hungry. But seeing you so close to Kai was really just the icing on the cake for him.

Your relationship just like any other relationship in this business was kept tightly under wraps, and no not even Kai knew that is best friend was dating the woman that he was so adamantly flirting with. But there was nothing that he could do about it. No one could know no matter how many times a day he wished that he could just end it all and “accidentally” post a photo of the two of you together and “accidentally” declare you as his partner.

He looked down at the tiny dot that he had tattooed over his ring finger as a symbol of your relationship and tried to remind himself of why he had to keep quiet. He knew that he couldn’t get away with wearing a couple ring, and that anything that he was seen wearing often would be noted by his sasaengs. But the tiny dot that was tattooed just a few shades darker than his skin tone easily passed as a freckle. And so far no one had even mentioned it.

Not even you knew about the permanent ink that he recently had etched into his skin, and he was okay with that. The tattoo wasn’t meant for you anyways. It was his own way of having you permanently attached to his body, even if it was something as small and unknown as what it was. It was his own little childish secret and he loved playing the “I know something you don’t know” game with you. In fact it was his greatest secret. It was no small feat that someone like you had walked into his life and made him feel like he deserved every ounce of happiness in the world. It was no ordinary task that someone had managed to make him a complete love struck fool. And yet he was more than happy to be yours.

He sighed and let his head fall back against the chair as he looked up and into the glow of the lights just above him. The fact that something as small as you laughing at one of Kai’s jokes making him jealous made Taemin even angrier at the whole stupid thing.

In that moment he had really hated being an idol.

He would never be able to have a normal relationship with you. You would always be stuck in his apartment or him in yours. He would always have to cover every inch of his flesh any time that the two of you were out together. He couldn’t hold your hand or protect you from perverts who openly flirted with you. He couldn’t kiss you in the first snow, or feed you his packed lunches out by the river. He couldn’t post pictures and share his love for you like others could.

But the biggest issue he had with it all was that you would never know how much he would spoil you and show you off to the world like you deserved to be, if he had the chance.

He had day dreamed countless times of going shopping with you and spending money on anything that you even dared to look at. Taking you on trips abroad and taking cheesy couple photos wherever you went. Or even just simple things like taking you grocery shopping and making sure that the cart was full each time, just so he could say that he was taking care of you and feeding you well, at the very least.

The though alone made him smile like a fool.

“Yah, what are you so happy about?” Xiumin asked from across the room

Taemin lifted his head up slightly to peek at the person responsible for the loud intrusion on his thoughts and smiled at the familiar face

“I’m just thinking about what I want to do after I get done filming today…” he replied as if he were speaking of a faraway dream.

Xiumin just pursed his lips and nodded his head, “Should we go get drinks after this?” he asked Taemin

Taemin shook his head “No, no. I don’t want to do anything other than sleep” he said with a laugh in his voice

“Okay, just let me know if you change your mind” Xiumin offered one last time before he turned back to his conversation with his members.

Taemin knew that he probably seemed like a total flake since he wasn’t spending any time with his friends lately. But he really couldn’t help but turn down any offer that he received. If he went to whatever his friends were doing he would only think of you the whole time, and every moment of free time that he had to spend with you was golden. He knew that your relationship was fragile with its current conditions and less than five hours of face to face contact a week. So, there was no way that he was going to push that any farther than it already was.

You had come back into the room with a smiling Kai following closely behind you staring straight at your ass. Taemin sat up in his seat quickly and raised his hand as if he was going to slap the smug smile straight off of his face but quickly rolled his eyes and willed his arm to drop back to his side. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to get rid of the images of him looking at you like that as close to gone as possible.

When he opened his eyes again he noticed that you were looking at him skeptically as if you wanted to say something to him. He looked back at you for a moment to acknowledge that you were watching him and then quickly looked away.

You quickly approached him and bent towards his face looking over his makeup for any smudges or corrections and then ran your fingers over his hair lightly fluffing it where it had gone flat from him resting his head against the back of the chair. You fixed whatever you could and then you looked at him as a whole with his outfit and jewelry.

He looked so goddamn sexy…. His tight jeans which displayed his taught muscles and his shirt combined with the jewelry that accented his look made him look dangerous and lethal. But that was the whole point.

“It’s perfect” you said giving him a small smile “Don’t lean your head back, okay?!” you politely commanded.

“Yes, I’m sorry” he apologized for messing up your hard work.

But really he messed up his hair every time just so he could eventually have you close again. His apology was bullshit and the smile on his face as he spoke rang louder than the words he had said. You slightly squinted an eye at him, catching onto his game and did the polite and less obvious thing and simply nodded your head at him.

You purposefully took a seat in an empty chair that was a few feet away from all of the boys in the room and pulled out your phone. It was moments like these when you weren’t doing anything that you could text Taemin to say the things that you couldn’t mutter out loud. You opened your messages and quickly sent him a flirty text.

You: You look so good today oppa, what will I do if someone steals you away from me?

Taemin quickly received the notification and opened up the message quicker than you thought was possible. He read it and glanced over at you with his wide smile kept poorly at bay. He text you quicker than you thought fingers could move and you smiled at his stupid response.

Min: I’m more worried about Kai trying to steal you away from me!

Just as you were about to respond you felt the heavy hand of Kai placed firmly on your shoulder as he took the seat right next to you. You politely smiled to him and tried to nonchalantly tuck your phone away in your pocket before he noticed it.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asked you sweetly

“No, go ahead” you answered

You glanced over at Taemin who looked at Kai like he had lost his mind and grimaced. You met eyes with him and he puckered up his lips like he was disgusted before he stood up dramatically. It was enough motion to catch everyone’s attention except for the man next to you, who was focused squarely on you.

He grabbed the back of the chair that he was sitting in and placed it in the front of the two of you as if he was going to join the two of you. He took his seat and continued to stare at the two of you innocently. He wore the most innocent facial expression as he got closer as if he were just coming by to sit and talk with his best friend and had no other ulterior motives.

“What are you guys talking about?” Taemin said with a smile looking at Kai, as he was trying to pull his attention away from you

“Nothing, I was just talking with Y/n.” Kai responded, putting his hand on Taemin’s shoulder and giving him a smile that screamed go away.

Slightly, very slightly you could see Taemin’s smile falter and you knew then why he was so concerned and grumpy. He was jealous of Kai! He really felt threatened by him!

You wanted to laugh at your realization but thought better of it to laugh at a time like this. You didn’t know why he would feel threatened by his best friend making conversation with you. Until you realized that you were in your own worlds together and Kai had no clue that the two of you were together. You felt a little bad that he flirting with you without knowing that it had no chance of going anywhere since you were very much in love with his friend. But it felt a little good to see Taemin feel so insecure about other men hitting on you.

And while it seemed unhealthy to say that you were attracted to his jealousy, you couldn’t help but feel that way. Plus, they say that a little jealousy is healthy right?….. That means that they care right?

You turned to look at Taemin and reflected the same smile of ‘go away’ to him that Kai projected. You loved seeing him pout, but doing it too often and creating a scene like he did not too long ago, would make people suspicious. And letting Kai flirt with you a little bit and flirting back could help make Tae’s weirdo behavior seem a little less questionable.

Taemin looked back and forth at the two of you with an open mouth, scoffed and then left the room. He wasn’t going to sit around and watch as you talked to him and he stared at you like you were his next conquest. Taemin was well aware of the powers of Kai’s sexual prowess, having been each other’s wing men on multiple occasions, prior to your relationship. And he knew what he was capable of doing.

He made the most innocent girls turn into his personal sex slaves for as long as they would allow him to use them. And he knew how to keep girls hooked on him. No one ever really got over Kai, and Taemin didn’t know how he was able to make girls end up so fucked up once he was done with them, but he had seen it happen too many times to let his unknowing girlfriend get in the middle of it.

He quickly pulled out his phone when no one was around him in the empty hall and text you a quick warning.

Min: Please, be careful! I wasn’t kidding when I said that I was scared that he would steal you from me. Kai has his ways!

You felt your phone vibrate and you took a peek at the message that was displayed across the screen. You rolled your eyes seeing Taemin’s worried message and put it back in your pocket.

“Who’s texting you? Your boyfriend?” Kai asked with a smile fishing for an answer

You looked up at his smile and smiled back “yeah, he’s being a little whiny baby” you answered, hoping that it would make the message clear to Kai that you weren’t available.

The smile instantly dropped a little from Kai’s face but as quickly as it fell it was beaming at you again.

“We’ll why is a girl like you with a guy like that?” he asked leaning in closer to you

You hummed and looked up to the ceiling as if you had to think of an answer “let’s see… he’s the most generous man I know, he is sensitive and strong, and he loves me more than anyone else in the world” you said finitely.

Kai sat back in his seat in his normal seating position and cleared his throat. He had clearly misread your kindness and laughter as interest in him. And it was clear now that you had officially told him that you were unavailable that he wasn’t interested in you as anything other than just a temporary play thing. He looked around the room as if he was searching for something to focus on or talk about when you stood up from your seat, ending the awkward silence.

“I’ve got to finish up some more work. I’ll see you around” you said with a wave before you left him sitting in his chair

You didn’t care to continue on the conversation with him since he very clearly didn’t care that you were in a relationship. How could he sit there and ask you about your boyfriend with a smile like he was a better alternative. Like he would lure you in for a good night of fun without a care in the world that you had someone at home who loved you, who you loved back. You weren’t going to spend any more time with someone who thought so little of you or had such low moral values

You really didn’t have anywhere to be but you knew that you just wanted to be out of the same room as Kai. You stepped out into the hallway and saw Taemin leaning up against a door. He looked tired and you knew that despite the glow that concealer gave him, underneath lie dark circles. He ran his fingers through his hair messing it up once more and you sighed before you walked towards him to fix it once more. He spotted you coming towards him and he smiled

“wow, it’s over that quickly, huh?” he asked

“shut up” you whispered with a laugh in your voice

You reached forward and tucked the ends of the loose strands of his hair back into their proper place once more, silently thanking whoever invented hair wax. Taemin just silently watched your face as you quietly worked and he looked into your soft eyes. He didn’t know what it was about watching you as you worked, but seeing you concentrated made you look so beautiful.

“are you okay?” you asked him without looking at him

Taemin looked away from you and you could tell that he was still pretty annoyed about Kai flirting with you so you quietly chimed up again.

“Just so you know, I think he’s pretty gross” you whispered

“good!” he said with wide eyes and a serious facial expression “I hope it stays that way!”

You dropped your hands and looked over Taemin. You sighed and looked around the hallway checking if anyone was around. No one was in the hall so you pulled Taemin away from the door and peaked inside of the tiny maintenance closet that he was leaned up against to see if anyone was inside before you pulled him in with you. You shut the door behind him and Taemin giggled as you quickly locked it.

“What are you doing?” he asked you with a cocky smile on his face

“I’m trying to make you feel a little bit better, and the only way that I can think to make that happen is to separate us from all of them” you answered

“Oh, I was hoping that we could do something else….” Taemin suggested licking his lips as he crept towards you.

You smiled at his stupid audacity to try to have sex in a maintenance closet at a time like this. With literally hundreds of people who could find you and expose the two of you. You were sure that if someone passed by they could even hear your voices as you spoke to each other. So how in the hell did he figure he could be quiet enough for a quickie?

He slid his hands around your waist and let them fall down to the back pockets of your jeans. He slipped his hands inside of your pockets and held you close as he cupped your ass. A gesture that he liked to get away with as much as possible.

“I don’t think so” you said with a raised eyebrow “I’m pretty sure that you don’t even have enough energy for your performance, let alone sex”

Taemin let out a deep breath and let his head hang so his forehead was resting against yours.

“At least a kiss?” he asked with a pout looking into your eyes

You leaned forward and placed a long kiss on his lips and he greedily accepted. He removed his hands and cupped your cheeks pulling you in deeper. You placed your hands on the side of his hips, wishing that you could run your fingers through his beautiful thick hair.

Taemin groaned and pulled away from you panting for air.

“Shit….” He said adjusting the small earpiece so it sat properly in his ear “I’ve gotta go, I’m the next stage” he said

You nodded your head at him and he smiled at you before placing one more soft kiss on your lips. He cracked the door open and peeked out side to see if anyone was around before he quickly slipped out of the room and walked towards the backstage.

You took your time in the room looking around at all of the appliances and cleaning supplies that loitered the shelves before you took your own turn to leave. About five minutes passed and you had found yourself to be stupendously bored so you left the small confined space and walked back to the waiting room where there were a few members of groups sitting around and talking to each other.

Among them was Kai who looked at you as you entered but quickly looked away from you not wanting to attract your attention. You quietly huffed and took a seat in a styling chair in front of a full vanity mirror. You looked over the makeup and hair supplies that were laid out and ready to be used at whatever possible moment when Sunmi took a seat in a chair next to yours and looked at herself in the mirror.

“Is there anything that we can do to make my makeup look darker or sexier? I really want to look good for Taemin oppa and my dance” she asked

“sure” you said with a chipper voice looking over her face and then back at the cosmetics on the countertop “let’s do a black eyeliner on your water line and a matte plum lipstick…” you suggested turning to her to see her face for approval before you began

“Whatever you think will work.” She shrugged “I just wanna look unresistable….I’ve got my eye on Taemin oppa and I want to shock him during the performance” he said with a wicked smile

“of course” you said through your teeth

You smiled as you turned around knowing full well that she could still see your facial expression in the mirror and picked up the cosmetics to do what you had suggested.

Your hands shook as you tried to apply the eyeliner, furious that she would be so open about her intentions. Shouldn’t you just stab her in the eyes then? Your inner psycho resounded and you had to stifle a laugh. You applied the lipstick to her lips and looked over her appearance once more. DAMN IT. She did look hot as hell.

“all done” you said softly

“Thanks” she said not even bothering to look at you before she stood up and left

You glared at her back as she walked away hoping and praying that she would trip on her way out. At least if she fell she might be a little less energetic and “convincing” for her performance with your boyfriend. You closed your eyes and tried to ignore the smiling image of Sunmi dancing seductively with Tae in your head.

After this performance sexy collaborations were going to be a no-go for him

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thedazedyouth · 6 years

Note

FAHC / Achievement Haunter crossover

(Lmao sorry this took forever and it’s so shit but here you go fam)

“C’mon dude, what’s the problem? Are you scared?”

Michael’s smirk baited Gavin closer and despite his better judgement, Gavin wasn’t going to let Michael have this to hold over him.

Gavin lifted his head a little higher. “I don’t get scared,” he confidently claimed. “Let’s go.”

Michael laughed at him, seeing straight through Gavin’s faked courage but instead of pointing it out, he decided he’d see how far he could push Gavin.

“Great,” Michael said. “But don’t worry, we won’t be in there for that long; just need to get out of the open until Geoff gives us the all clear.”

How long can that take? Gavin thought.

The pair made their way towards the ancient cathedral they stumbled upon, they both eyed the tip of the great spire that pointed towards the heavens. Although Michael’s eyes were full of awe and intent, Gavin’s were wide and fearful. It wasn’t the cathedral itself, it was beautiful and if it had been any other time, Gavin would have loved to explored it. But there was something wrong with it. There was something inside it, a gut feeling Gavin had; something that didn’t belong in the holy building.

If Michael felt anything at all, he didn’t seem to care. His smile was wide as he ran up the worn down, stone steps leading up to the forgotten house of worship; Gavin trailing closely behind.

They had reached a pair of large, wooden doors that hid away the temple. Gavin began doubting if they should enter; would it be disrespectful for two non-believers to enter God’s house.

Without looking at him, Michael voiced a questioned. “Are you sure you want to go in? I mean, you can always stay out here while I make sure it’s safe and all that.”

Gavin noted the challenge, and gave in to it. “No. I’m going in with you. How bad can it be?”

Michael raised an eyebrow, and stepped forward to roughly pull the slightly rotting door open. “After you,” he said, gesturing for Gavin to enter. Michael even bowed slightly to put on more of a show.

“What a gentleman.” Gavin nodded to Michael as he passed over the threshold. He immediately noticed the sudden change of temperature, and the undeniable feeling of someone watching him from the shadows of the building.

Michael shoved Gavin forward a bit, keeping him moving. They walked side by side up the nave, between the aisles of dark oak benches. Michael moved into an aisle, in the back of one of the benches there was still a dusty, brown bible hidden away.

“Whatcha think happened here?” Michael asked as he inspected the bible, flipping it open and skimming through the pages.

Gavin had stayed in the middle of the nave, slowly spinning around to inspect every piece of the aging cathedral. He stopped to face Michael, a series of glass stained windows were posted behind Gavin as he did so. They were lit up from the growing light of the street lamps from either side of them. They gave Gavin the appearance of a heavenly glow as he looked into the shadows at Michael. The windows depicted various famous scenes from the bible.

“What makes you think anything happened?” Gavin responded.

Michael huffed. “Have you seen this place? No one’s been here for at least a year.” He blew the dust from the bible he held into Gavin’s face for emphasis.

Gavin muttered, “Prick,” but before he could react anymore, something shiny caught the corner of his eye.

He turned his head to face an alter, it was situated at the furthest end away from the narthex, where they had entered.

The altar was simple from afar, but as Gavin neared it he began to notice the intricate and complex details on what looked like a gold rimmed chest. He knelt before it, one hand resting on the thin slab of stone on top the chest while the other traced over each of the elements and bits of history crafted and compressed, all made from gold.

He sat there for too many uncomfortable moments for Michael to handle.

“Hey, c’mon. Let’s explore the rest of this place,” he said, breaking Gavin from his trance.

“Uh- yeah, sure. How big could this place be?”

Gavin hesitated but pulled himself away from the altar, catching up to Michael as he strolled past Gavin and began exploring the area behind the shrine. There was a single maple door positioned directly behind the altar, Michael only noticing it after the silver handle sparkled for a moment.

Michael eased it open, a breath of stale air rushed forward to meet him; only proving his point that the cathedral had been abandoned. Cobwebs rimmed the corner of the threshold, the thin, white silk webbing was a stark contrast to the beckoning darkness beyond them. The first steps of a hidden staircase were revealed by the sudden, new light.

Michael reached into his pocket and turned on his phone’s flashlight. He looked back at Gavin with an expression that could only be interpreted as “Fuck it.”

Gavin and Michael carefully made their way down the tight, winding staircase. The darkness had barely been able to swallow them before the maple door behind them swung shut with a loud thud.

Gavin squawked, and jumped towards Michael by instinct. Michael had almost already began laughing his ass off at the easily frightened Gavin; but the full weight of him and Michael’s unprepared footing sent the pair tumbling down the flight of stone stairs until they rolled to a stop on a concrete floor.

Michael muttered a string of curse words under his breath as he picked himself back up. Noticing the lack of injuries he had, he ignored the feeling of Gavin’s body next to him and headed towards a light in the darkness he presumed was his phone.

He reached down and picked it up, the screen light revealing the series of cracks that covered the screen.

“If you’re still alive,” Michael said into the nothingness, “you’re buying me a new phone.”

Gavin moaned in return. He stood slowly, bracing onto the nearest wall for support. He winced as Michael shone the flashlight into his eyes, scanning over his body, checking for any wounds. When he couldn’t spot any, Michael snapped.

“What the fuck was that, you dumbass?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Gavin said. “The door closed by itself.”

“Yeah, but it was you who got scared and pushed us.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird the door closed?”

Michael scoffed. “It was the wind, stupid. This place is old as fuck, there’s gotta be a broken window or we just left the front door open.”

Michael ignored Gavin’s next attempts to defend himself. Michael turned his flashphone to investigate the room they had fallen into. There wasn’t much to it, mostly just bare concrete walls covered in dust and spiders, except for another wooden door; this one being in better condition than the last.

Without consulting the other, Michael marched over to it, yanked it open and strolled into the new room. This one was larger, but only slightly fuller than the last. Against the right wall were a couple crates, sealed tightly and appeared to have been there for a while. Michael inspected them, waving off the dust and peering down to read faded text inscribed all over them.

“What the fuck,” Michael whispered as he read the words. They appeared to be in some foreign language that prefered symbols over letters, still he knew it was no commonly spoken language.

Despite his inability to read the non alphabetic language, he tried to repeat the words written on one of the crates. He was sure he was making up sounds and just being offensive to whoever’s language it was; but when a short scream for his name resonated directly after he spoke, Michael thought the two were related.

He rushed into the other room, where Gavin had stayed behind in. The Brit had pulled out his own flashlight, facing it towards the staircase they had entered from and was scanning it frantically back and forth.

“Gavin? You okay?” Michael asked.

Gavin whipped around as the sound of Michael’s voice. “Did you hear that?” he returned. “Please tell me you heard that.”

“What are y-”

Before Michael could finish his sentence, Gavin shused him. Gavin glanced up around the room, clearly waiting for something. Just as Michael was about to question Gavin again, he heard it.

A scream tore through the room, ricocheting off the walls and pierced through their brains.

Michael’s blood had turned cold and every hair on his body raised. Adrenaline coursed through him, every muscle in him tensed and froze in place. His heart was racing and the only thing he could do was gape at Gavin.

“What the fuck was that?” Michael managed to ask. “Where’d it come from?”

“In here,” Gavin replied. “Only from here.”

“How? There’s- there’s no one else here.” Michael scanned the room again, just to be sure.

Gavin and Michael stared at each other, slowly gravitating towards the other for safety and comfort. Their instincts telling them to pull their guns out, but they knew there was nothing to shoot.

Another forceful scream haunted the room, this one causing both men to cover their ears in pain. It lasted for minutes, or maybe only seconds; but when it left only an echo in the room, they looked at each other and in a split second they were running.

Michael pushed past Gavin to scurry back up the staircase they previously fell down. They were both trying to claw at the walls to drag them upwards. They squeezed through the door at the top of the stairway. Michael and Gavin were panting by the time they entered the ambulatory, the silence of the cathedral had taken over again.

The candles that were placed before and around the altar were ablaze with a flame that was too powerful for the mere wax sticks. They glowed onto the golden artwork of the altar, reflecting their own faces back onto them. Gavin looked at himself as he back away from the maple door.

A pair of black eyes stared back at him.

Gavin stumbled over himself, trying to ignore the image he just saw as they retreated away slowly through the nave, retracing their previous, more excited steps. As they edged past the aisles, the blasting sound of glass shattering rippled through the air. The stained glass above them broke, and rained shards down on them.

That was enough to send them sprinting back down the nave, into the narthex and shoving each other out the front.

Michael and Gavin spewed through the wooden doors and onto the street. They stood in the middle of the road as they stared and almost waited for the cathedral to move again. But as they watched, someone broke the silence.

“Try them again. They might’ve gotten back in range.” Jack’s voice entered through their comms.

Geoff sighed. “Fine. Michael? Gavin? Can you hear me, you dumbasses?”

“Yes! Geoff, we’re here, we can hear you,” Gavin spouted. “Where are you? Is everything clear now?”

Geoff sighed again, this time from relief. “Where the fuck are you? I’ve been trying to reach you for the last hour, Ryan and Jeremy are out searching for you shits.”

“Hour?” Michael asked. “Are you sure? We were only gone for like ten to twenty minutes.”

“No, I know how long you’ve been gone. Just - just get back to the penthouse and we’ll talk more.”

Michael and Gavin found their way back to the apartment, Ryan and Jeremy meeting them there and demanded answers. The first pair waited until they had entered the penthouse, where Jack and Geoff were waiting for them, until they explained their whereabouts. Although it was mostly Gavin who spoke about that last twenty minutes for him and Michael.

Geoff merely nodded through Gavin’s retelling, waiting patiently for him to stop. When Gavin finally caught them all up, Geoff looked over to Michael for confirmation of the story. Michael didn’t reveal any emotion as he shrugged.

“I guess that settles it,” Geoff said. “Good job today, crew. Uh- Gavin, nice to see you can keep an imagination these days.”

The crew disbanded to do their own thing around the penthouse, leaving Gavin and Michael alone in the lounge.

“Why didn’t you back me up? They all think I’m fucking crazy,” Gavin demanded.

“Because,” Michael explained, “neither of us know what the fuck happened in there. No one’s gonna believe us, no matter what. So, just forget about it. Forget about everything. It’ll be better if we pretend it never happened.”

Michael left without another word.

The next day, Jeremy and Gavin were on their way to a quick job for Geoff, when Gavin urged Jeremy to take what he claimed was a short cut. Gavin easily spotted the tall cathedral spire from the distance and told Jeremy to slow down.

As Jeremy pulled up to the cathedral, Gavin whispered a short, “What?”

He remembered specifically how the bright, colourful stained windows had shattered into the cathedral; but the light of the midday sun was shining onto the exact replicas of the ones there the day before. The front wooden door had been placed neatly back onto its hinges, like Michael and Gavin had never been there.

Gavin turned to Jeremy. “I swear it wasn’t like that yesterday.”

Jeremy just nodded. “It’s okay, buddy. I believe you,” he said, half heartedly. “Do you wanna go in? Just to check it out?”

Gavin shook his head. “Whatever’s in there doesn’t want people in it.”

“Okay. Then we should get going and finish this job.”

And with that Jeremy drove off again, leaving Gavin to look through the side mirror at the shrinking cathedral. He knew he wasn’t crazy, Michael had been there but Michael would never admit what happened; so Gavin had to be content with keeping the experience to himself.

#fahc #fake achievement hunter crew #achievement haunter #achievement hunter #gavin free #michael jones

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