#while the guy is magically silenced to stop him from breaking the illusion
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The Villain Part 2
Summary: Wanda is an Avenger. Wanda’s girlfriend’s father is a villain, though she doesn’t know that. What happens when Tony Stark successfully kills him?
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader
Warnings: angst, panic attack, major character death, descriptions of violence (tell me if I missed any!)
Word count: 2644
a/n: So, I made a part two! I’m really sorry for the wait! I hope you enjoy. Feedback is always appreciated :)
Tags: @helloalycia
Wanda sits on the couch, staring at the TV where an episode of Bewitched is going on, though, she doesn’t know which episode. All of her attention is in her thoughts. She is thinking about Y/N. No wonder Y/N has been so busy and distant these past days. Her father died by the hands of Tony Stark, her friend.
Wanda sighs, rubbing her face. The other Avengers still didn’t know what happened at the mission. They don’t know who the main bag guy is, or how they got away. She doesn’t know if she should tell them.
”What’s going on in your head, kid?” Steve asks, sitting next to Wanda. “You’ve been pretty distracted.” He smiles. It’s supposed to be comforting, but Wanda just feels guiltier. They have the right to know what she knows, but she couldn’t bring herself to get the words out of her mouth.
“Nothing. I’m just stressed, that’s all.” Wanda glances at Steve before turning back to the TV.
“I don’t want to pry, but is everything okay with you and Y/N? She hasn’t visited the tower in a long time.”
Wanda freezes at the mention of her girlfriend’s name. Are they still dating? She wasn’t sure. They haven’t talked after they saw each other at the bank. Wanda wanted to call her, she really did, but she didn’t know what she’d say. Would she tell her she was okay with Y/N killing people? That she still wants to be together. Does she want to stay together? All of these questions swirled in Wanda’s head, making her dizzy.
“We, uhm...” Wanda pauses, looking for the right words. What were they? “She has just been busy with work.” That was basically the truth, just without the details.
Steve nods. He didn’t look too convinced, but he didn’t want to push his nose into their relationship, knowing Wanda would tell them when she is ready.
“Okay. Just know you can talk to me if you need someone to listen.” Steve gives Wanda’s shoulder a squeeze before leaving.
Wanda turns her attention back to the TV, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. She hides her face in her hands, silencing her sobs.
Y/N is painting her mask, cleansing herself from the last three kills. It never made her fully guilt free, but the illusion of ridding herself from the pain she caused helped. She glances at the list, it was getting shorter by the day, though nowhere near done. Setting the mask down, Y/N goes to the bathroom, getting the first aid kit. All the memories of helping Wanda clean her wounds enter her mind. She tries to push them away, not wanting to think about her right now, but it was impossible. Every sting from the rubbing alcohol brought more and more memories.
Y/N swiped a cotton ball over a cut on Wanda’s cheek, making her whine lightly. Y/N laughs at the pout on the witch’s lips. “Oh, shut up you big baby.” She presses the cotton on it again before taking a bandaid and putting it on it.
Wanda playfully glares at her. “Why do you have these childish bandaids, I’m a badass superhero.” She does some, supposedly, badass superhero poses. They make her look even more ridiculous and adorable, at least to Y/N.
She hums, pecking Wanda’s lips. “If my amazing Spongebob bandaids make you feel less badass, I don’t think you deserve the title of badass woman.”
Y/N grins when Wanda gasps dramatically. “You take that back.”
“Never.” Y/N whispers and runs out of the bathroom, making Wanda hop off the counter and run after her. Because of her powers and Avengers training, Wanda clearly had an advantage in this chase. “Not fair! You cheated.” Y/N laughs as Wanda pushes her to the couch, trapping her with herself after using her powers to stop her from running.
“No I didn’t, there were no rules to follow.” She smirks and starts tickling Y/N, who starts laughing and trashing around. “Take back your words!”
“Never!” Wanda raises her brows, continuing the tickle attack, not giving her any mercy. When tears from laughing too much start gathering in Y/N’s eyes, she accepts her defeat. “Fine! I take it back, I take it back.”
Wanda stops, but she doesn’t move away. She stares at heavily breathing Y/N with a smile on her face. “You’re so beautiful.” She mutters, gently putting a hand to her cheek. Y/N looks away, blushing. After all this time, Wanda still made her flustered. “I love you so much.” She whispers before kissing her deeply.
Y/N puts the first aid kit away. She stares at herself from the mirror. Her face looked tired. She felt tired. All she wants is Wanda, she is the only thing that could make her feel better.
Stirring her tea slowly, Y/N’s unfocused eyes stare at the silent TV. She didn’t know which show was going on, but it didn’t matter. It was way over midnight, she was supposed to be sleeping right next to Wanda, but she couldn’t fall asleep. So, she decided to go to the kitchen and make some tea. She hadn’t been at the Avengers compound too many times, it still felt like home. Anywhere could be home if Wanda was there with her.
“Sweetheart?” Wanda’s voice comes from the side. Y/N turns to look at her. She has a tired and concerned look on her face as she walks to the couch. “What are you doing here?”
Y/N shrugs. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Wanda takes the tea cup out of her hand, setting it to the table and pulls Y/N up from the couch. She lays down to her place before pulling Y/N back, this time on top of her. She wraps her arms around her waist as Y/N leans her head to Wanda’s chest.
“You’re so soft.” Y/N whispers.
Wanda giggles, lightly brushing hair out of Y/N’s face. She uses her magic to bring a blanket on top of them. “You comfy?” Y/N nods. “Go to sleep.”
“You too.”
“I will.”
Y/N has a bruising grip on the sink, her knuckles white. She leans her head on the mirror, biting her tongue, trying to fight back the tears. She lifts her head up and lets it fall back to the mirror, not being able to hold back her tears anymore.
Wanda and Y/N are standing under a small roof, staying away from the pouring rain. They were on a date, having a picnic in the park and then watching the stars, until the rain caught up to them.
Y/N has a big smile on her face as she watches the rain. Wanda stares at her, holding an arm around her waist. “What’s on your mind?”
“Can’t you just read my mind.” She turns to look at Wanda, grinning.
Wanda rolls her eyes, bumping their shoulders together. “You know I wouldn’t do that. Besides, I like to hear you talk.”
Y/N shakes her head with a smile, looking back at the rain. The other people are either running away with a jacket held over their head or walking with an umbrella. Some have decided to wait out the rain like Wanda and Y/N, though they looked more impatient.
“Can we-“ Y/N pauses, biting her lip. “Can we do that really cliche kiss under the rain?”
Wanda giggles. She tightens her grip around Y/N and pulls her put of the cover. They stop on the middle of the street, Wanda holding her hands on Y/N’s waist and Y/N holding her on Wanda’s shoulders. They stare at each other, both of their eyes are full of love and adoration for each other.
“I’m the luckiest person alive.”
“Debatable.” Wanda whispers and kisses Y/N before she can say anything else.
Y/N punches the mirror, breaking it immediately. She kneels down to the floor, holding her bloodied hand to her chest while sobbing loudly. Missing Wanda hurt too much, it felt like all the air from her lungs suddenly disappeared, like something was holding her down and she was too weak to fight against it.
She starts coughing because of all the crying and gasping. Quickly, her breathing turns too shallow. She presses her throat gently, trying to get more air into her lungs, so she wouldn’t pass out. When it doesn’t help, she digs out her phone from her pant’s back pocket, going to Wanda’s contact number, she calls her.
The phone rings for a while, making Y/N cry even harder. On the fifth ring, Wanda answers the call. Y/N tries to say something, but all Wanda can hear is crying, which makes her worry. “Y/N? What is going on, are you okay? Where are you?” She is moving around the Avengers compound, putting on her jacket and shoes. “Can you tell me where you are? Please, sweetheart.”
Y/N shakes her head. “I can’t, th-they won’t let you in.”
“They? Your men? Are you hiding somewhere? Are they hurting you?” Wanda speeds out of the compound, getting into her car. “I can get through them, you just need to tell me where you are.”
Y/N rubs her hand on her leg. It’s starting to tingle from the lack of air. “I’ll send you the location, please, don’t hurt them.” She hangs up and throws the phone away after sending Wanda the address, banging her head against the wall as she tries to get her breathing under control.
It doesn’t take Wanda a long time to find the right place, considering she ditched her car and decided to fly over. She bursts through the doors. The men in the room take out their guns and point them towards her. Ripping the guns out of their hands with her powers, she points them towards the men.
“Where is Y/N?”
The men glance at each other. No one was supposed to know her name or her connection to them.
“She called me crying. If I find out you are the reason for it, you’re going to regret it.” Wanda presses the guns closer to them. “Now, where is she?”
One the men leads Wanda to Y/N’s room. He opens the door for her, waiting till she walks into the empty room before closing it. Wanda walks towards the sobs and sniffles, carefully opening the bathroom door.
“Y/N.” She kneels next to her shaking body, pulling her close. “I need you to calm down, can you breathe with me?” She speaks quietly, helping Y/N follow her breathing pattern. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”
“We need to talk.” Y/N mumbles when she has calmed down. Wanda nods. The couple stands up and moves out of the bathroom. They stand around, both looking everything else except each other.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You know why.” Y/N sighs. “You’ve been after my father for years, I was scared you’d hate me and leave me if you found out.”
“I wouldn’t have done that, you should know that. We could’ve avoided all...” Wanda moves her hands between the two. “This.”
“So, you would’ve been fine with it, just like that? You wouldn’t have minded knowing I’ll follow his footsteps some day? Because you couldn’t have stopped me if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Well, I-“ Wanda looks away from Y/N. She wouldn’t have been okay with her becoming the new him, she would’ve tried to talk her out of it. “You’re killing people.”
“It’s not like you haven’t killed people!”
“And I feel very guilty about it!”
The more they talk the more their voices are starting to raise, both annoyed and frustrated at each other.
“So do I! But this is my job, Wanda, just like being an Avenger is yours.”
The fight starts to get ugly. Vulgar words are thrown around and their voices can be heard to the other rooms. Y/N’s men didn’t like that, so, they decide to take matters to their own hands, by bursting into her room and pointing their guns against Wanda, again. Stefan is holding his gun straight on her temple.
“Move and I’ll shoot!”
Before Wanda can fight back, Y/N takes out her own gun and points it towards Stefan. “You take that damn gun out of my girlfriend’s face if you want to live.”
The room turns silent. That was the last thing the men thought Wanda was to her. She seemed like a threat, not a lover. They also didn’t expect her to turn so hostile against them, her own family.
“Girlfriend?” He scoffs, but doesn’t move the gun away. “She? Seriously?”
“We’ve been together for years, so I suggest you put the gun away before her or I do it for you.” He sets the gun down slowly. “Wanda, leave.”
“I’m not leaving you with them!”
It was an odd sight. Just a minute ago they were screaming at each other and now they were protecting each other.
“They won’t hurt me.”
Wanda glares at the men. She did trust Y/N, if she said they won’t hurt her she believes they won’t, but she couldn’t help getting an uneasy feeling around them. Ignoring that feeling, she leaves the building.
Y/N and her men are fighting against the Avengers. Two days have passed since she saw Wanda, but nothing changed after that. She told the men her position with Wanda and the rest of the Avengers. They were annoyed at first, but let it go, if it didn’t interfere with their job, everything would be okay.
The mission was going well, Y/N killed one more name on the list with no Avenger in sight when something happened. She doesn’t know what went wrong, but it seems like one of the newer men at the distraction spot ratted them out. And now, she had to fight her friends who didn’t know they were fighting her and her girlfriend who did now, and it showed. She purposely avoided using her magic near Y/N.
They were outnumbered, they weren’t supposed to be, but everyone’s fighting skills were somehow worse today. It made Y/N worried, she couldn’t let her family get caught or killed.
Suddenly her eyes lock with Stefan’s. He is hiding behind a wall. She sees him lifting up his gun and fire. For a second, Y/N didn’t know who he was aiming at, until she heard Wanda’s cries as she stared at her.
Wanda rushes to Y/N’s side, grabbing her before she hits the floor. The rest of the Avengers stop fighting, giving the men a chance to run away. Y/N stares at the bloody spot on her stomach.
“No, no.” Wanda throws away the mask. The Avengers let out gasps and other sounds of confusion and worry. “You’re okay, it’s okay, you’ll be fine.” Wanda rambles as she presses her own hands on Y/N’s wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.
Y/N stares at her. Even in a situation like this she was so beautiful.
“I’m sorry.” She whispers. “I should’ve told you earlier, I should’ve let you talk me out of it.”
“Don’t say that, you still have time. Could I get some help over here!” Wanda’s voice booms through the echoey room, making the others snap out of their initial shock. “You’ll be fine, my love. Everything will be okay.”
She smiles, nodding. She knows she wouldn’t survive, the bullet hit her in a critical spot. But for now, she could pretend, for Wanda’s sake. She’ll be okay. If she’s in Wanda’s hands she’ll always be okay.
“I love you.” She whispers as she closes her eyes.
#wanda maximoff x reader#wanda maximoff x you#wanda maximoff#scarlet witch#the scarlet witch#the avengers#marvel fanfiction#fanfic#angst#i’m sorry#mcu#marvel
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Into The Sanctum
Chapter Summary: Doctor Strange brings Y/n into the sanctum as he explains to her the situation at hand. However, the introductions to the team don’t go very smoothly.
Word Count: 3,021
A/N: Here we are with chapter 2! This one is a lot shorter than the first, and honestly the rest of the chapters will likely be around this length lol Hope you enjoy!
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
“Y/n Fenton. 26 years old, acquired her abilities in 2019 after a lab accident.” Wong started explaining as he brought up multiple images and video clips of you throughout the years, using his magic. “Known abilities; Able to switch between human and ghost form at will, Invisibility, Intangibility, Flight, Able to overshadow other humans, Super Strength and Speed, Can summon ghost energy in a ‘ghost ray’, and Cryokinesis.” The sorcerer finished, leaving everyone in a moment of silence, not sure how to proceed after all that information.
“Whoa, that’s awesome.” Peter said in awe, but no-one else shared his excitement.
“We’re going to recruit a ghost...to fight other ghosts?” Loki was the first to ask.
“Fight fire with fire and all that.” Strange responded.
“How do we know we can trust her? Isn’t she one of them?”
“Yes, but she’s also human. Besides, just because she’s a ghost, doesn’t mean she’s automatically bad.” Wanda now piped up. “And you’re one to talk, Loki. Aren’t you technically a Frost Giant?”
“Yes I am, and look how well I turned out. Not exactly a good sales pitch.”
“Alright, that’s enough.” Strange interrupted. “This isn’t up for debate. The ghost realm is bleeding into our world more and more every minute, and Fenton is our best shot.” Strange slipped on his sling ring and began opening a portal. “I’m going to talk to her.” Before anyone could respond, Strange stepped through, portal closing behind him.
Everyone stood in silence for a moment, before Peter spoke up. “C’mon, I can’t be the only one who thinks this is cool.”
“The very fabric of our reality being at risk and our world being overtaken by ghosts is ‘cool’ to you, Peter?” Wong asked, causing Peter to scratch the back of his neck shyly.
“Well, when you put it like that...”
Amity Park
You and Tucker were walking down the street, heading to your favorite donut shop. You stared at your phone as you walked, not really worried about bumping into anyone or anything as you used your powers to subtlety phase through them.
“Hear anything?” Tucker asked and you shook your head.
“No, haven’t heard in hours now. She’s really mad.”
“Well, you did manage to almost get yourself killed the other day.”
“I’ve been doing this for years now, I know what I’m doing. Besides, I’m already literally half dead.”
“Not the point.” Tucker sighs. “C’mon, you’ve been dating her for over a year, and have been best friends for even longer. You should know her by now. She’s scared.”
“I’m not faulting her for being scared, but I can’t keep going through fight after fight with her for just doing my job.”
“Is it really your job though?” Tucker shrugged, causing you to stop in your tracks. Him following a second later. “I’m just saying, there are a bunch of heroes back now after the blip. It wouldn’t kill you to take a few days off.”
“They can’t do what I do. And they don’t know what we know.”
“You don’t gotta be all cryptic” Tucker laughed and you couldn’t help but chuckle along.
“Yeah, maybe not.” You shrugged. “I don’t know though, we’re the only ones who really know how to deal with these ghosts. I love helping people, but I’m tired of this too sometimes. I’d love to be able to leave Amity Park, really start my life, but...I can’t. All the ghosts come from here, and I gotta do my best to keep it that way.”
Tucker opened his mouth to form a response, but before he could, a bright orange light appeared. The light began to form into a portal and a man with white and black hair, dressed head to toe in blue robes and a read cape, appeared.
“Y/n Fenton?” He asked, which took you and Tucker aback. You looked to your best friend before looking back at the man.
“Uh, who’s asking?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m Doctor Stephen Strange, and-”
“Wait, that’s you?” You interrupted, eyes wide.
“Yes? I assume you’ve heard of me then?”
Your eyes hardened at this. You knew the name Dr. Strange a little too well. He, along with Iron Man, had been part of the reason behind the death of your parents, having been part of that fateful fight in New York. You knew logically that this man didn’t go out of his way to kill your parents, and that he likely didn’t start that fight, but still. You didn’t appreciate the reminder.
“Yeah. I have.”
Strange noticed the shift in your tone and tilted his head in confusion. You two stood in a stand off for a few moments before Tucker coughed beside you.
“Sorry, but uh, you’re one of the Avengers right?” He asked as he started to fanboy.
“I guess you can say I was, though they aren’t really around anymore.”
“Still, that’s so cool! Hey, did you know Iron Man before he-”
“What do you want?” You interrupted as you crossed your arms, eyes still glaring at the wizard.
Strange regained his composure as he continued. “I need you to come with me. It’s quite literally a matter of life or death.”
Your hard glare faded and in turn you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Ghosts are pouring into our world, their reach is now far outside of Amity Park.” Your eyes widened when the wizard said this. You figured you shouldn’t be surprised that Strange knew of this, but you really weren’t sure how to react. “And I know you’re a little more than familiar about ghosts...considering your biology.” Now you really didn’t know how to react. You dropped your arms as you tilted your head towards Tucker.
“So much for that day off.”
Sanctum Santorum
Wanda stepped out of the room as the back and forth between the boys started. She needed a moment to herself to think, she needed air. She made her way to the rooftop and leaned on the edge, looking over the city.
She knew that her life would always entail having to deal with potential world ending threats. It was that way when she was an Avenger, and even more so now after becoming the Scarlet Witch. It got tiring, but she wouldn’t give up the responsibility. Not after Westview. Besides, it beat the alternative that Agatha had predicted for her, destroying the world.
But damn, a break would be nice.
Ghosts? Seriously? She guessed that she really shouldn’t be surprised that they exist, over the last year she’s seen some crazy stuff, but ghosts seemed like a scary concept. And not in a ‘Halloween spooky’ kind of way, it was more of a fear of the unknown. If all ghosts had the same capabilities as the Fenton girl had, she had no idea how she would be able to combat that.
Speaking of the Fenton girl, she couldn’t help but be intrigued. From what she’s seen and heard, the girl knew what she was doing, so she failed to see why she and the rest of the team had to get involved. Still, she figured that they should do whatever they could to help stop this threat.
She also agreed with Peter in that she was ‘awesome’, but she wasn’t about to voice that.
She took a deep breath as she bowed her head, calming her nerves. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe it could be easily fixed and they could all get back to their lives quickly. She knew that was unrealistic, but she had to have a sliver of hope every now and again or she’d go insane.
“Wanda!” She heard Peter’s voice in her head, way too loudly. She cringed as she held her head.
“Peter, we’ve talked about this. You don’t need to be so loud.”
“Sorry, Wanda. Doctor Strange told me to tell you to come back down. Y/n is here.”
“Okay, thank you Peter.” She felt the boy’s presence leave her mind as she picked her head up. She shook her head, ridding herself of the pain while preparing herself as she headed downstairs.
A Few Moments Before
The telltale orange sparks started forming in the main hall of the Sanctum. Soon after, a portal opened and Strange had stepped out, but this time was followed by two people. A woman who was looking around in a mix of confusion and awe, and a man who seemed to be bursting with excitement.
“Whoa! What was that!? That was so cool!” The man turned to the woman in excitement. “Was that magic!?”
“Yeah Tuck, but we gotta be cool here, okay?” The woman told ‘Tuck’ in a hushed whisper.
“Right, sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I had the same reaction.” Peter piped up with a smile. He walked over to the two new figures, hand stretched out. “I’m Peter Parker.”
“Tucker Foley.” Tucker’s smile reappeared as he shook the boy’s hand excitedly.
Peter turned to the woman standing next to him. “And you’re Y/n Fenton, right?” You chuckled as you grabbed Peter’s hand, shaking it as well.
“I guess I’m famous around here.”
“We just found out about your existence an hour ago, but I suppose you can call it fame.” Loki piped up, and you turned to him. Eyes widening a second later.
“Holy shit! Aren’t you the guy who led the alien invasion in New York?”
“That was over ten years ago, darling, let’s leave the past in the past.” Loki shrugged. “Besides, I’m doing the whole ‘hero’ thing now.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
“It varies.”
“Okay that’s enough for the introductions, now-” Strange started before Peter cut him off.
“Wait, what about Wanda?”
“Get her down here while I catch our new guests up.” Peter nodded as he began to call to Wanda with his mind. “Now, Y/n, you’ve done a lot of good over the last few years. Keeping the ghostly threat contained to Amity Park while the rest of the world remains none the wiser is quite impressive.”
“Aw, thanks.” You smirked with a shrug.
“However, those efforts might have only delayed this.” Before you could ask what the wizard was talking about, he brought up an illusion showing ghosts starting to spill through tears that were seemingly in mid air. “The Ghost Realm is starting to tear into our own.”
“Wait, the what?” You asked, causing Strange to falter slightly.
“The Ghost Realm?” He responded with a raise of his brow.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“Um, where all of the ghosts are coming from? The source of your powers? You’ve been dealing with it for years-”
“Oh!” You shouted, finally realizing. “Yeah, we’ve been calling that the Ghost Zone.” You started to chuckle, Tucker joining, but everyone else remained silent for a moment.
“Right...” Strange proceeded. “Well the ‘Ghost Zone’ is starting to become a problem everywhere. We need your help.”
You coughed as you regained your composure, turning serious. “How is this even possible?”
“We were hoping you knew.”
“Look, I might know a lot about the Ghost Zone, but I don’t know everything. I’ve kinda just been dealing with it as it came for the last five years.”
“Well, it looks like you’re about to get a lot more proficient.” Loki said. Before Y/n could respond though, a new presence entered the room.
Wanda walked into the main hall where she found everyone in a heated discussion. She walked in further when she finally spotted the two new faces. A nerdy looking man, and the woman who she recognized as Y/n Fenton. She took a moment to observe her. She was in casual clothing, a white t-shirt covered with a red sweat jacket with jeans and red sneakers. A brown messenger bag slung across her body, indicating that she was on her way somewhere before she was brought here.
Wanda had only really seen Y/n in her Phantom form, since that was the only relevant part of her that they needed to know at the time, but she couldn’t help but think that the human side was captivating as well.
Wait a minute, what?
No, she wasn’t supposed to be looking at other people like this. Not after Vision. She never even thought someone else could turn her head again for one, but she also felt like she was betraying Vision and all they had by even simply staring at someone else for too long.
She coughed, as she tried to get rid of those thoughts, but in doing so she garnered the attention of everyone else in the room.
“Oh, good. Y/n, this is the Scarlet Witch. Otherwise known as Wanda Maximoff.” Strange had introduced her, and she gave a small smile along with a shy wave in response.
You, however, did not have the same welcoming response. You straightened up as your face tightened, eyes widening slightly. You recognized that name. “Wanda Maximoff...as in ‘Westview’ Wanda Maximoff?” You asked the room, however your eyes never left Wanda, who’s face now dropped.
The room stood in silence for a moment before Peter spoke up. “Yeah, um, we don’t really bring that up.”
“Yeah? Well, I am.” Before anyone could register what was happening, You changed into Phantom and blasted a powerful ghost ray towards Wanda.
The blast hit her square on, knocking her to the ground. The witch shook the attack off quickly as she stood up. The awe that she had previously while staring at you was now replaced with anger, as she shifted from her current outfit into the Scarlet Witch. Hands and eyes glowing red, as your own hands and eyes glowed green. The two women stared each other down as the men stared in varying states of shock.
Tucker was the only one who seemed to know what was going on as he brought his hand up and grabbed the bridge of his nose. “Oh man.”
“What the hell was that for!?” Wanda asked, almost shouting in anger. Your face didn’t waver however. You gritted the next words out, as you were also seething in anger.
“My sister was there.”
Everyone stood in silence for a few moments after the revelation, not sure how to continue. Wanda remained standing, but the red faded from her eyes and hands. Her gaze fell downwards for a moment as she straightened up. After no-one spoke for several moments, you continued. “I hope your little sitcom fantasy was worth it, cause Jazz is still going to therapy because of you.” You scoffed. “You didn’t even have the decency to give her a speaking part. Just one of your little extras.”
Wanda sighed as tears started to spring to her eyes at the reminder. She shifted back into her normal clothing. “Look, I really am sorry for the pain I caused. I truly didn’t know at the time.”
“Sure you didn’t.” You scoffed before turning to address the rest of the room. “She’s a fucking terrorist. Actually, now that I think about it, what the hell am I doing in a room with all of you!?”
You looked around briefly before pointing at Loki harshly. “You’re a fucking psychopath who almost took over the world!” Loki shot his hands up in surrender as you turned to point at Strange next.
“You were part of the fight in New York that killed my parents!” Strange’s eyes widened slightly at the revelation, but he didn’t get to say anything as you turned to Wong.
“I know you were there too!” You finished by landing on Peter.
“And you-” You cut yourself off as you realized you didn’t have anything against the kid. Still, you were stubborn and too into your rant to stop there. “I actually don’t know anything about you, but I’m sure you’re no good if you’re hanging around these freaks!”
“We’re the freaks?” Loki asked incredulously, as he couldn’t help himself. “Sweetheart, you’re basically dead.”
“Better being dead than a fucking murderer.” You seethed out. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t care. My responsibility is to my home and to those I love, that’s it. I never signed up for this life, and even if I did, I definitely wouldn’t wanna work with any of you.” You began to float and move over to Tucker, who had been watching the whole exchange in silence. You grabbed his arm, taking you up with you. “Good luck, sounds like you’re gonna need it. I’m out of here.”
With that you began to fly up, Tucker in your arms. You sped up heading towards the ceiling. You were about to go intangible to phase out of the building, when suddenly, your ghost ring appeared around your waist and separated, turning you back into a human.
Your eyes widened as you and Tucker began to plummet back to the floor, but before you both hit it, red wisps surrounded you both, breaking the fall. They didn’t last long though, as a second later the disappeared, making you both hit the ground harshly. Tucker rubbed his arm as you brought your hands up to look at them, wondering what happened.
“What the hell was that!?” You asked as you looked back up to the people in the room.
“I went into your mind and triggered your transformation.” Wanda answered, and you could’ve sworn you saw a slight smirk on her face. Your face hardened once again.
“Stay the hell out of my head.”
“Alright, enough!” Strange shouted, finally putting an end to this. “Y/n, I understand your hesitation. I do. You don’t have to like us, you don’t even have to trust us, but believe me when I say we cannot do this without you. You may be angry at the world, hell all of us are, but we need you to put that aside.”
You stood up, offering a helping hand to Tucker, but your gaze remained on Strange. You sighed, knowing you couldn’t ignore the severity of the situation. No matter how much you wanted to. You hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up.
“Okay. So what do we do now?”
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Game Master Akuma AU by crisisdparity
Xavier Duchamp was rather proud of himself. What he had before him was an absolute masterpiece of a campaign if he did say so himself. The product of over six months of study, research, and rebalancing efforts followed by two weeks of discussion with his five players to hash out schedules, meeting times, characters, backstories, potential character arcs, and getting them set up with a messaging app that was really good for sending discrete messages between the GM and the players.
Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he’d greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively.
Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item’s stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia.
Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug.
Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt’s history with characters dying) and he’d even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt’s usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with.
Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history.
He’d put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He’d carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign.
In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he’d made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one.
Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn’t need it anymore.
—–
It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app.
Matt/Chat - Chat’s going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily.
Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I’d advise, but it’s your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now.
Matt/Chat - <photo> 17
Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone’s passive Perception easily. You’ll sneak off handily without anyone noticing.
—–
“Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple.”
“Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?”
Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt.
“19.”
“Okay, difficult, but not undoable… Crap.”
“What’d you get?”
“Nat 1…”
“Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!”
“Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!”
“Because it’s payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish
campaigns!”
“Oh, come on! You’re not the only person whose had a character die at this table! <GM> runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they’re always fair!”
“What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?”
“Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp.”
“14!”
“Not much better, dude.”
“Guys, it’s fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-”
“Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece.”
“The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound.”
“So does Carapace.”
“Vesperia too.”
“-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you’re all using the Dash action?, you’ve got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they’re all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this.”
“Rena screams ‘What the HELL, Chat?! We’re supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn’t you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!’”
“Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!”
There was dead silence at the table.
“Matt… What… just… WHAT?!”
“Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe’s on the other foot, huh?!”
“What the hell is your problem, Matt?!”
“My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I’ve spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!”
“Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!”
“I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY’RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!”
“THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!”
“NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN’T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I’M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!”
“MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!”
“Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time…”
“It’s going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least.”
Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour.
He’d given so much to making sure this would work. He’d apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He’d agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he’d pull something like this.
He’d nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else’s. They’d somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They’d meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening.
It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he’d slaved over for months was kaput.
He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it.
“Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things.”
This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he’d ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel.
“Not
enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts.”
He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he’d spent so much time on to life… What creator could ever turn down an offer like that?
“I, the Game Master, accept… Hawkmoth.”
“Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders.”
“No.”
Hawkmoth was silent for a moment.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself.”
“If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you.”
“No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me.”
And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence.
—–
Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn’t remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn’t usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo.
Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her.
She looked up.
And up.
To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her.
“How’s the weather down there?” Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique.
“I WILL END YOU!” the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up.
Characters:
Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew)
Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast)
—–
Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope.
She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn’t for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she’d have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings.
Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she’d have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her.
“You know, people are staring…” she said as she craned her head to look at her companions.
“Let them,” the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. “They’re just jealous because their boyfriends can’t carry them everywhere.”
Characters:
Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout)
Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour)
Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
—–
Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin.
She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she?
And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor?
Characters:
Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party)
Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew)
—–
Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she’d freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she’d come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she’d gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable.
It might help more if she could figure out where she was.
Or find another person.
Characters:
Polymouse - Kobold
(rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned)
—–
Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance.
“Are you quite done?”
“Almost!” Pigella’s cheerful voice answered. “Your fur is so comfy!”
Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels.
“I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen’ I will stick you in a bottle.”
“Aw, I love you too! Hey, what’s that?”
“I think it’s my character sheet?”
Characters:
Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory)
Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned)
—–
“According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules,” Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. “I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master.”
“Aweshum,” King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk’s robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him.
“Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water.”
“Gotta keep up appearanshes!” King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness.
Characters:
Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned)
King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master)
—–
Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he’d never felt before.
“Hmm… perhaps I can work with this…”
“Speak for yourself…” Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face.
Characters:
Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others.
Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters
—–
“Oh, come on!” A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. “Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can’t I join them?”
“Because you’re too OP. You’d completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure.”
“But sitting around is no fun at all!”
“If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger.”
“That’s it?! I’m on 'mysterious hooded figure’ duty? Boo! Why can’t I fight with them?!”
“Because you’re too OP. But if you insist, I’ll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions.”
“YES!”
“Five.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’ll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. Choose your interventions wisely.”
“So… if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle…?”
“Then I would allow you to join them of course.”
“Score!”
Characters:
Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5)
Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign
—–
Addendum
When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it’s basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back.
All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt’s place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he
has a similar playstyle to Matt, he’s savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians.
They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.
—-
oh wow- that’s- wow. good job dude, seems like you worked on this a lot. Next time You should post this on your own account though, as this isn’t getting tagged or anything. Thank you though, you did a good job with this.
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hold on [ kuroo tetsurō x reader ] [ soulmate! au ]
⌙ kuroo has been against love since the very beginning, but maybe you can give him something to hold onto.
when you love someone, and they break your heart
don’t give up on love, have faith restart
part of the love is on it’s way series [masterlist]
word count: 2.2k
genre: fluff? kinda? maybe a little angst
warnings: timeskip spoilers, arguments
ever since he was young, kuroo has had multiple interactions with lady luck.
but he knows that she’s not picking on him for every single thing he does, because he’s had one too many valuable experiences throughout his life that, when he looks back on, makes a soft smile break out on his face in content. he’s well aware that lady luck has been especially kind with his friendships- he’s so thankful for every single person in his life, but he’d be caught dead before being sentimental to their faces. she’s also been generous with his success and his smarts, and while he knows that he worked hard in school, opportunities like his didn’t come out of thin air.
kuroo tetsurō knows that he’s living a life that others would kill to have, and he’s appreciative of his good luck; he wouldn’t change the opportunities that he was given for anything. but with all the good that lady luck has given him, he can’t help but bear the overwhelming weight of hating the one thing that others hold so dear to their heart, the thing that clutches the hearts of everyone around him so tightly and refuses to let go.
he thinks that people who believe in love- in their soulmates, specifically- are foolish. not stupid, or dumb, just unaware of the deceitful illusion that was marred onto their skin that they believe to be their ‘one, true person’. they’re fools because they haven’t seen what love can do to people. it’s destructive, dangerous, an unstable hallucination that people cling to on the belief that it’ll make them happy, and it’ll satisfy their need to be loved. their expectations of love blind them from the reality of a fabricated assurance that was never actually promised to them- just idealized in order to create a society that was dead set on believing.
but believing wasn’t enough, not whenever you’re a product of a mother and father who separated because their love for each other had crashed and faded away into nothing-ness. it was obvious, after a short period of time, that they were tired of pretending; the fighting, the screaming, and sometimes even short bouts of violence that haunted his childhood. he remembers crying himself to sleep nearly every night.
kuroo despises that people can love blindly. he doesn’t see a reason why a phrase that magically appears once you turn eighteen should determine who you’re supposed to fall in love with. he used to argue that he hated soulmates because there was no scientific reason behind them, that it was almost impossible for the universe to have a perfect match for everyone, but even his science-obsessed self couldn’t put it off for so long (he got tired of saying “magic isn’t real, so why are soulmates?”). so he decided that his person would be a person he chooses, not someone that was picked out for him.
but after numerous arguments with his friends, he stopped bringing it up. nobody besides kenma, his best friend, knew why he was so against soulmates, and he wanted it to stay that way.
when he turned eighteen, kuroo can’t say that he wasn’t a little bit excited to see his tattoo, his tattoo that would show what the first thing his ‘soulmate’ was going to say to him. it was like a mystery game; was it going to be something funny, a witty pick-up line, maybe? or was it going to be an apology- maybe you two bumped into each other on accident. the possibilities were endless, and it was exciting to see what would be on his skin forever. but there was no way that he believed in soulmates, or that this person would be his person forever.
but when his tattoo finally showed up, at the ass crack of dawn on his birthday, right on the inside of his pinky finger (which was really weird, because he’s never seen that on any of his seniors, ever), he knew that lady luck was on his side.
‘sorry, but no.’
it was almost ironic- actually, it was totally ironic, that the first things his soulmate would say to him was something so bland and boring. it actually gave him a sense of relief, knowing that the first thing that this person would say to him is a dismissive apology, and it only fueled his distain for soulmates even more.
the satisfaction that he got eventually led to him forgetting about his mark, and it helped him focus on his future. in a way, he was thankful for his soulmate for his tremendous success.
it helped him live more freely, to live without restraint, when he talked to people. it was almost impossible to completely avoid the topic of soulmates, but he didn’t care. he wasn’t worried about what others thought of him, because it was his life. he lived it however he wanted. and if there was anything that his mark told him, it was that his soulmate wasn’t interested in him either.
kuroo was incredibly charismatic, and he knew how to keep a conversation. he knew of so many things, old and new, that kept everyone he was talking to on his toes. he flirted endlessly with people, and it didn’t hurt his feelings when someone turned him down. he knew how people were fully committed to a person they had yet to meet, or had already fallen in love with. he respected other people’s decision, because he knew what is was like when people disrespected his.
but lady luck had a twisted sense of humor.
it was just supposed to be a get together with his friend, bokuto. catching up, he called it, after months of being busy with their adult lives. the two sat at a fancy restaurant (past them would never believe that they’d be successful enough to spend this much money on food), dressed head to toe in suits that made the middle-class drool with envy.
“still not feelin’ the whole soulmate thing, huh?” bokuto asked, closing the menu. there was so many options it was overwhelming, but he knew what he wanted (he wasn’t the type to explore his tastebuds).
“don’t think i ever will,” kuroo replied, meeting bokuto’s teasing eye contact.
“that’s so funny,” the professional volleyball player said. kuroo was proud that one of his closest friends got so far with his passion, but who in their right mind would let an overgrown child on the court?
“how so?” he prompted.
bokuto grinned, leaning onto the table. he was cautious not to knock over the expensive alcohol. “i met someone the other day,” he said; kuroo groaned, and he awaited for an upcoming tale of what he assumed to be bokuto’s soulmate encounter, but was instead met with: “who has the same feeling about soulmates that you do.”
“oh really?” kuroo had met a select few who had the same thought process as him. well, theirs more steered on the ‘how can a soul be split in two’ while his was more like ‘i’ve seen how faulty soulmates can be’.
“yup,” bokuto said, popping the ‘p’, "you guys should talk!"
"i think i'm okay," kuroo responded, taking a delicate sip of his whiskey. it stung as it went down, but what's to enjoy in life if there's little pain?
"no, seriously," bokuto stated, getting his phone out of his coat pocket. "you guys should talk. you two have a lot in common."
the noirette rolled his eyes, leaning back in the cushioned chair. "how so?"
"you guys both can't get a date." bokuto grinned, holding the phone up to his ear, “let's see if she picks up."
"haha," kuroo said, voice monotone, "very funny." he was a little ticked that bokuto was calling a girl during thier friend-date, but once bokuto had his mind set on something, trying to get him to stop was impossible.
he saw bokuto’s eyes gleam with mischief when the ringing stopped, and kuroo thought he heard a “what do you want?” coming from the other end.
“you know how you talked about never being able to get a date?” bokuto asked. he didn’t wait for your response before he handed the phone to kuroo with an overly eager nod.
“sorry, but no.”
kuroo’s throat went dry as his mind instantly raced to the words that were tattooed on his the inside of his smallest finger. suddenly, he’s anxious. his heart stops, and his hands are starting to get sweaty. he doesn’t know what to say-
“i’m not going on a date with you, bo.”
it doesn’t make sense, kuroo thinks. you weren’t talking to him, you didn’t know he was the one who had his phone to his ear, so how- just how were those the same words that were supposed help him find his other half?
the lack of response obviously confused you, and he heard a small ‘bo?’ from the other side of the phone. he couldn’t help it, he told himself, that he thought your voice sounded beautiful. you were supposed to be perfect to him, but there’s no way that you were actually meant for him. so with a wary glance towards his friend, kuroo got himself together.
“well, that’s just not nice.” he said. he’s surprised he didn’t stutter, with how his heart was still racing. maybe it’s the faint amount of alcohol in his veins that provided little comfort, but he’d take what he could get.
for a moment, kuroo is afraid. he’s afraid you’ll hang up on him, because if bokuto said you two have the same view on soulmates, he feels like you’d run away. not because you’re scared of the commitment, but because you know what being a soulmate entails. he knows that the most frightening thing to him is being forced to love someone, and the endless possibilities that could follow. he’s afraid because he doesn’t know the outcome, and he assumes you feel the same way. he tells himself that it doesn’t mean anything if you hang up.
but you stutter for a second, at a loss for words, just like he was. there’s silence on your side, and he knows you figured out that you’re supposed to be meant for each other. he waits for it, the monotonous beeping to show that you’ve ended the call, but-
“have you met bo?” you ask, voice quiet. “he’s-“
“a lot,” kuroo finishes, and he knows that he’s done for.
he’s lived his whole life telling himself that the connection and relief you feel when you meet your soulmate isn’t real. he rejected the thought of soulmates since he was little. but even he can’t ignore the feeling of his swelling heart as a smile breaks across his face. it’s an overwhelming sense of comfort that flows through his body, and he can’t do anything to dwell the overall pleasantness that he feels inside from just talking to you.
you, his soulmate, the person he told himself he was never going to give a fading chance because there's no way that he'd love someone just because the universe told him to. you, his soulmate, the person that he wants to hate so much because he doesn't believe in a love that's set in stone for him. you, his soulmate, the person that he didn't choose.
“yeah, a lot,” you agree, and he hears you let out a small chuckle- it’s a blessing to his ears, “and ugly.”
kuroo laughs, because that’s definitely not how anyone would describe the professional volleyball player, and he knows you say it in jest.
“you wouldn’t go on a date with him because he’s ugly?” he asks, saying it loud and clear for bokuto to hear. his friend lets out a loud ‘hey!’, loud enough for you to hear, and his suspicions are only confirmed when he hears you let out a snicker. the conversation is cut short when the phone is snatched out of his hands, and kuroo laughs again as bokuto hangs up the call after telling you ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’
"i'll send you her number," bokuto says with a pout on his face. and kuroo can't wait. once he feels the vibration of a notification that bokuto did, in fact, send your contact to him. he doesn't hesitate to send you a quick text.
[kuroo tetsurō to you]
would you go on a date with me?
he curses lady luck. he's mad that, within a span of less than two minutes, he might change his mind on soulmates. he's scared because he knows that, if he goes along with what fate has in store for him, he might get hurt. he can't lie and say that your voice wasn't magic to his ears, and that he can't wait to hear it again, but he has to pace himself. if he throws all the caution that his past has given him, he's can't help but think that his parents divorce would have taught him nothing.
but it was so easy to talk to you, even if it was to make fun of your mutual friend. even as bokuto's pouting at him from across the table, kuroo can't fight the grin that's been on his face for the past few minutes.
[you to kuroo tetsurō]
idk, are you ugly too?
kuroo just hopes that you're both willing to give this whole soulmates thing a chance.
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destiny | 09;
⇢ summary: you’re just about ready to give up on life altogether; your love life is in ruins, you’ve lost your job, and your family couldn’t care less about you… and then you meet your blushing guardian angel, and maybe life isn’t so bad after all.
⇢ relationship: jeon jungkook/reader, min yoongi/reader.
⇢ genre: supernatural, angel!au, demon!au, romance, thriller.
⇢ words: 6.5k words.
⇢ warnings: mentions of depression, violence, vomiting. slightly nsfw toward the end.
previously | next
a/n: happy new year! I know it’s been quite a while (literally an entire year since I’ve updated) but I’ve had this chapter pretty much ready in my drafts and just hadn’t gotten around to finishing because. everything. regardless, I hope this sort of makes up for it. love you all! hope you’re doing well. also WOW I swear a lot in this one.
His hand on your neck is meant to silence any screams that might slip out. He applies the perfect pressure to avoid crushing anything vital (and just by the feel alone, you know he’s got quite an amount of strength to pull that off) while simultaneously stealing all your air and forcing you to cower in fear. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know this guy isn’t someone to be fucked with, and all you can think about is the fact that Jungkook is right outside and has no fucking clue what’s going on. The very thought fills you with dread.
“Then again, you’ve got someone helping you.” What once was just a particular, calculated press against your skin becomes a deliberate act of violence as he begins to choke you harshly. You know the pain of his grip might last for weeks, and that’s only if you don’t die in the next minute. “Just makes me wonder what’s so special about you.”
“Nothing!” You rasp out, clawing at his hand now in some weak attempt at breaking away. If you could make enough noise, enough commotion, surely someone-
-but the stranger has already stopped you quick. You aim to throw the door open or something but his free hand quickly apprehends you until you’re just a squirming mess on the verge of passing out. Even your legs are pressed firmly to the wall by his own body, holding you fast so that you can’t help letting a few tears fall. There was no doubt in your panicked mind that this was Seokjin, the angel who’d been trailing you from the shadows for what felt like centuries. His grand act of approaching you, something you’d dreamed up to be a major climactic brawl in a battlefield made for a spectacle, turns out to be so simple. Perhaps that’s what you got for thinking biblically. Why go through all the trouble when he could just squash the problem the minute a chance presented itself?
Now, all you can think is “I can’t die like this”. A sobering thought of pure contempt. Drowning in the river was preferable to this.
You muster what breath you can, eyes blazing, “How does it feel… being God’s lap dog?”
Seokjin is, funnily enough, stunned for a moment. All bravado slips through a teeny crack in his demeanor when you say that, and even though it’s a low blow, it’s also enough for you to thrust a semi-powerful kick to the dressing room door to make the entire thing shudder like an earthquake. That sound, coupled with your comment, makes Seokjin release you in a panic. You hear some gasps from outside, a few people inquiring if you’re alright. An employee sounds most worried amongst the voices. You’re just shy of swinging the door open and forcing Seokjin to be revealed or to disappear all at once, but then he’s grabbed the back of your collar as you scream in frustrated fury. Seconds later, you’re no longer in the dressing room anymore.
Instead, you fall flat on a rough, sandy surface. You’re overwhelmed with nausea, pain, and fear, so your whole body is struggling to pick up on the most important things outside of that, but you do realize quite fleetingly that it’s sweltering. It takes you a few seconds as you curl up on the ground to peek behind your hands that shield your face and discover that it’s blindingly bright where you are, almost like a…
For fuck’s sake. “Of all the places…” You whine with a sore throat, coughing right after from the strain.
Seokjin stands above you and uses his foot to kick you onto your back so that you’re staring up at him and the baby blue sky. His hair color plays against it in an unfittingly gentle contrast, “I thought we might need somewhere safer to discuss things. Oh, and speaking of discussion,” he waves a hand near you and you instinctively flinch back before you feel the pain in your throat subside. You wait a few seconds, but it seems whatever he’d just done had no effect on the rising bile in your throat, so you assume that’s something you’ll have to deal with on your own. What an ass. “Feel better?”
“Fuck you! Maybe if you hadn’t choked me out in the first place-”
“You’d have listened?”
“Maybe if you hadn’t hunted us down to kill us, we would have!”
Seokjin frowns, “I didn’t bring you here to talk about you and that boy, I brought you here to talk about you. I am only concerned with you.”
Whatever that entailed did not sound good in the slightest.
You scramble to your feet and immediately regret the movement as it makes you sick again. The more than 100 degree weather does nothing to fix that either, the sun beating down on you and bouncing off the dusty white sands directly into your eyes. You’re feeling something nasty rising up from your stomach, ready to projectile…
Just as the scene changes, you paint a Victorian rug with streaks of your vomit.
Seokjin immediately groans out loud, placing a rough hand at the back of your neck like one would grab the scruff of a kitten. You’re far too weak to protest, rubbing at your mouth with the back of your hand, so you let him toss you into a chair. The jerkiness of the action should have sent another eruption out of you, but you recognize the relief that has overwhelmed you from the touch of his hand. Had he fixed that too?
“Never the matter,” the angel growls, waving his hand and making the mess evaporate from the very fibers of the rug, “you’re all very fragile. I should have prepared you first.”
“How can you do all that…?” You couldn’t recall Jungkook or Jimin showing off any power like that, and whether it was because of Seokjin’s status or their modesty (and adherence to rules), you were unsure. Most likely both.
Instead of answering right away, Seokjin reaches forward a moving cart and you finally notice there’s a glass pitcher of water (hopefully) next to an array of empty glasses. You take the time he spends pouring some water for you to examine your surroundings.
It looks like a secret room in an old English manor house. The walls are painted a deep charcoal and with the absence of natural light, you could mistake it for the void. The only light that does exist is a strangely dim white light coming from the ceiling. What looks like a rather ornate shell of a skylight (sans the window to actually reveal, well, a sky), seems to hide said white light somewhere in it. It’s such a vague glow that you can’t pinpoint if it’s coming from a lightbulb or magic.
The rest of the room is just as ornate as the “skylight”, filled with deep oak bookshelves, golden artifacts, and shining decorations that already look like they cost more than your house. It doesn’t really matter the longer you think about it. All of it has to be an illusion… right?
A glass is placed into your hand and you break out of your thoughts to make eye contact with Seokjin. He hovers over you with narrowed eyes and when you look back at your surroundings again, you notice all the little decorations have disappeared. Why had he- “We can negotiate those bits of the deal later if you so wish.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” You ask, hesitant to drink the water despite how much the heat of the desert had made you crave it.
“Like I said before, I brought you here to discuss you. I’ve been watching you and lover boy for a while and it has become clear to me that you’ve been pulled along for quite the ride. I’m sure it’s all very daunting.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if you hadn’t shown up.”
“How much do you know about our Lord and Savior?”
It was tricky to say the least. You’d grown up on tales of him, an over-powered being of immense stature. No one could come close to him, not even the devil. However, you’d learned bits and pieces from Jungkook, Yoongi, and the others to the point where your ideas of the figure had become skewed. There was no linear understanding of him. You honestly had no idea, “Probably not enough.”
Seokjin huffs, taking a seat from across from you in a chair similar to yours. Crossing a leg over the other, the angel stares you down, “Do you know why I’m after you both?”
“You want to kill Jungkook. Because he committed your sin.”
“Jungkook is my main target, yes, but it wasn’t my sin. My sin was sullying myself with a demon. Jungkook’s sin was sullying you.”
You frown, “He did no such thing! You had a fucking child! Jungkook saved my life!”
“You mean to say he ruined it. You were supposed to be dead a long time ago.”
You’d known that much, Jungkook had told you already. Even if he hadn’t, that had always been the plan. “It was… it was my choice and I wanted it then, I admit it. But I was hurt. I was overwhelmed. I wanted it because I was scared there would be no reason to keep going.”
The angel angles a brow upwards, “And the fallen was that for you? A reason to keep going?”
“It was- it was a lot of things. I was reminded that I existed, and that there are people who can love me the right way,” frustrated at the situation, you glare at him, “what the fuck? Is this some fucking therapy session?”
He has the gall to smile, “God knows you need one. I’d like to be the one to get inside that mind of yours.”
Shit. What if you’d given him just the right information to use against you?
You snap your lips shut and sink back into your chair, bubbling with more dread. He notices your sudden resolve and appears to want to ease your worries, “I’m not doing this to break you. Unlike God, I find you, as a person, quite redeemable. A gentle, pained soul who fell victim to the perversion of her guardian angel. It’s all very sad.”
So God did think you were a lost cause. Jimin had been right after all. However, you don’t want to keep talking when you’re so close to getting the information you’ve been waiting for. It seems even Seokjin isn’t fazed by your silence, continuing on without missing a beat. “You see, usually these angel and human matters can be chalked up to the angel getting too big for their britches. They think they can change things like fate: God’s very flawless plan from the beginning. They are simply… glitches in the matrix, you could say? That’s where I come in. I make sure these issues are handled and that everything goes back to normal. You see, God loves his humans. Truly. He has a bit of a temper, but it’s justified, you know? He loves you all so very much that seeing you stray from a holy and righteous path is heartbreaking for him. He can only excuse so much.
“So he doesn’t. But… sometimes I help him. I change his mind. Even Jesus had to convince God not to blame his executioners. The big guy gets real impassioned about those he loves. It’s all part of the territory of being in heaven’s sovereignty,” at this, Seokjin shrugs, “you were an unfortunate casualty of it. However, I brought you here because I think that you could be saved. You’re simply confused. I’m sure I could convince God to rethink... his punishment for you.”
Your eyes widen, nearly dropping your glass, “He’d do that?”
The angel nods, pleased, “Of course! After all, he just wants you to repent. If you show that you will, well, I could put in a good word for you. He and I are very close.”
“But only for me.”
Seokjin’s smile dims some. He was so sure he’d had you on the hook just then, “Well… yes. There isn't much I can say about angels. Humans are born sinful, but angels are born knowing better. If they succumb to sin, I cannot do anything about that. But… if you feel that you’d be leaving Jungkook behind, and if that would cause you to feel guilty, I can assure you that that would be taken care of. Your memory of him would be wiped clean and you’d receive another guardian angel in an instant. You’d be granted everything you ever wanted. You’d be able to live out a new path of life contrary to the one your fallen so selfishly carved out for you.”
At this, you begin to frown deeper than you ever have. It’s not out of confusion but deep, deep understanding. Seokjin’s deal was asking you to sell Jungkook out and in return… he’d make you happy. You’d forget all about what had happened and carry on a new person, virtually safe. You could only assume that meant forgetting Yoongi too. Everything you’d accomplished so far would be rearranged until the you that you’d become would be so unfathomable you wouldn’t ever consider it.
What scares you the most is that you actually consider it.
This all could end right now and you’d get out alive, maybe all the ordinary people you knew would get out alive too. You’d be completely removed from the situation. You’d just have to forget Jungkook.
“You asked me how much I know about God,” you start, thumbs twiddling, and Seokjin perks up, “the stories humans told of him always kind of scared me. He’s so powerful… he knew everything before it was even created. Nothing can get past him. And yet, he let humans have free will and the right to choose what their path in life would be. That part always boggled my mind. God’s supposed to love us unconditionally, but if we don’t return the favor, we suffer eternally. It seemed like a pretty big plothole in the otherwise ‘flawless plan’ you claim he made.”
“Yes, well, it’s not God’s fault that Lucifer’s so conniving.”
“But it is. Isn’t it? God created him. Lucifer is the one who brought sin upon the world but God is the one that created him. If he knows everything, why make him in the first place? It’s a fallacy,” Seokjin’s eye twitches just a bit as you lean forward, “that God knows everything. Isn’t it? He wouldn’t be so stupid. He had no fucking clue what he’d made when he made Lucifer.”
“I’d watch your tone. God hears all.” The angel’s ominous reply is all that you need to hear. He doesn’t tell you that anything else you’ve said is false or not. Of course not. You know as well as he does that you’re spot on.
You’re so stunted by the arrogance of it all that you have to laugh, “Allegedly.”
In that same moment, the white light above begins to flicker. A distant rumbling sounds from somewhere and that fear you’d felt earlier comes back with a vengeance. Seokjin looks annoyed, if anything, “I only have so much time to sit here with you to chat.” He stands up and walks over to you, seizing you by the arm, “So I’m telling you now that you still have a chance. No one else has to die. Do me a solid and make that a reality.”
Did he really not want to kill you? He’d had so many chances to. Even now, he could just… what did you have that made him hesitate? “You think I believe that?”
The ground rumbles underneath you and then you fall through, Seokjin’s grip slipping off your arm… or maybe being pried off.
Where you land next isn’t as disorienting as the last few times, but it doesn’t feel any better to be ripped away again without so much as a warning. For a moment before you land, you halt, almost floating. Then your feet make contact with stone and then your knees follow under the sudden press of gravity. A quick look around tells you that Seokjin is nowhere to be seen… and that where you are looks vaguely familiar.
The stone continues up the walls to the ceiling, creating a naturally cold room that expands no more than the size of a restroom (no toilets in sight, however). The furthest edge of the room from you is completely dark, while the other is helped by a fire stretching from one long, narrow wall to the other. There is no wood crackling beneath it though, nor is there an actual controlled area for it to burn. Flames simply lick up the bottom of the wall as if commanded by magic. While the rest of your body feels chilly, the warmth of the fire keeps your head warm like a fever.
You lay crumpled up on your knees and hands, staring into the flames with the most bemused expression, wondering what to do now. You’re definitely not intent on travelling to the other side of the room in fear of being met with something sinister you can’t see, but the fire only illuminates so much of the place and there doesn’t seem to be a door in sight. If Seokjin wasn’t here, you doubted this was a place he wanted to be.
Maybe he was torturing you? Intending to keep you in a dark, scary room in order to break your resolve? You didn’t know the extent of power he was allowed to wield but this whole transportation thing was starting to get really annoying. You chance a meek, “Hello?”
Your voice doesn’t echo like you expect it to. It sounds like it’s right up against your face, like you’d spoken into a pillow, the sound eaten as soon as it came from your mouth. Where the hell were you?
“...not exact, okay?!”
You pick up on a voice to your right and turn over with such speed that you land on your ass. Some stones move on the narrow wall, and then the room is illuminated from an entirely different source of light. It takes you a few moments to gather your bearings as your eyes attempt to adjust. Voices are frantic and coming closer, you can hear that much. You pick up on one instantly, “Jungkook.”
Your voice is weak with relief just as he comes into view. He looks an absolute mess as he throws himself at your feet and wraps you up into a bone-crushing hug. The strength of his hug doesn’t even bother you as you cling back with just as much force, grateful tears beginning to gush out of your eyes. You didn’t realize until then just how terrified you’d been, really. It was always there underneath the surface, but something about Jungkook’s sudden presence makes the reality of it all hit much harder. He smells like your shampoo still.
After a couple of minutes in his embrace, you pull away to examine his face, “Are you okay?”
He laughs and the way his tears have clogged up his throat make it sound more like he’s choking, “Who cares about me? Are you?”
You smile, tucking some of his hair behind his ear, “Better. With you here. Where are we?”
“Limbo, hell’s limbo.”
You’re not sure what to say in response to that. After what you’d been through in the last… however long it’d been, that seems the most plausible to you. “Is that like purgatory?”
“No,” another voice speaks from above you and only then do you realize that Yoongi is here too. He looms over the both of you but his gaze is fixed heavy on your face, “purgatory is where the dead go on their way to heaven. This is where the living come on their way to hell. Was a hell of a ride trying to get your ass down here.”
“Yoongi…” You peel back from Jungkook and stand up, a little wobbly as you lean against the wall, “...thank you. How did you do it? The places Seokjin took me… I felt like we were in a dream.”
His upper lip ticks up in a snarl, “It was. The place where you were is a void, heaven’s version of limbo. It’s where angels bargain with humans on the edge of death to repent. It’s an open playing field for angels to present themselves to their humans without them having to be dead or breaking a rule… not like the latter really applies to Seokjin, though. It’s only as strong as your will to be there,” with that, Yoongi reaches toward you and brushes what feels like sand off your cheek, or perhaps he just meant to touch you to make sure you were really here with the way it lingered, “and that’s the only reason I could pull you out.”
It was a lot to digest. You still couldn’t totally understand how he’d pulled you from heaven’s limbo if he was a demon, but that was beside the point. Right now, you just wanted to get out of this creepy box of a room for good. And it seemed you would be getting your wish.
Another figure became clear to you through the doorway, though this figure looked much more intimidating than the two by your side. Dressed immaculately with a sly smile that felt strikingly familiar, a man makes his way into the room, pressing a hand to his chest and bowing his head to you, “He had my help too, of course. A pleasure to meet you (Name), I’ve heard very little about you.” The man holds out a hand to you and you can feel both Jungkook and Yoongi stiffen on either side of you, but neither makes a move to stop him. This had to be another demon, no doubt.
You take his hand and shake it firmly despite your nerves, “T-Thank you for your help as well. May I ask who you are?”
The man grins wider, “You can call me Lucifer. Are you hungry?”
An entire array of human food is set out before you but you don’t have much of a stomach to touch any of it, though Jungkook seems right at home as he fills up his own plate. You can only guess he’s enjoying the hell out of having so much food at his fingertips without having to pay for it.
You can hear his delighted sound effects from the left of you as you both sit on one side of a long table. Lucifer sits at the head of the table to the right of you, also refraining from really eating anything. Yoongi sits right across from you on the other side with an annoyed expression on his face, fingers tapping the heavy oak table top in a rhythm you can’t decipher. It couldn’t be any more awkward.
“No appetite?” Lucifer asks, pointing to the food. There’s meat and vegetables and cheeses that you know and don’t know but none of it seems particularly appetizing to you at the moment.
You shake your head, “No. Actually, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
“Ah, bet you’re bursting.” He chuckles and takes a swig of something you think might be wine. “Go ahead. I’ll try to recap the last couple of days as well as I can.”
“Days?!” You don’t mean to yell, you really don’t (especially not at the king of hell, but-), “It’s been days?”
Jungkook stops chewing to give you a concerned look, “Of course… how long was it for you?”
“Barely… half an hour, maybe more? But not days.”
“Yes, well,” Lucifer sighs, tucking his hands together in front of himself, “time works much differently in heaven and hell than it does here. Especially for those who end up in heavenly limbo. It’s essentially cut off from the rest of the universe which makes it that much harder to track those who end up there. Seokjin was smart in bringing you there than somewhere else on earth.”
Your head is throbbing at this point. If days had gone by, you could only imagine how much had changed since you’d been gone… “So… what has happened since then?”
“Apparently quite a bit, seeing as I was a last resort.” Lucifer’s tone almost sounds irritated. Like a petulant child, he glares over at his son with an unspoken tension that you would like to delve into much, much later when the important things have been moved out of the way. “These boys have been pretty busy trying to get you back. But we are all eager to know what happened while you were with Seokjin.”
Jungkook places a gentle hand on top of your knee under the table. For whatever reason, you note that his grip feels stronger than you’d grown used to. You’d thought the hug was just because he missed you so much, but even this simple touch was- “He… he found me in the dressing room, cornered me there and told me he’d been trying to get me and Jungkook alone. Somewhere he could really do some damage.” You recite all that you readily remembered, some details slipping as you focus on Jungkook’s touch. Yoongi’s eyes never stop boring into you. “He said a lot. He… he said he wanted to give me a second chance.”
Lucifer raises a brow at you, “At…?”
“Life. He said that if I… if I ratted out Jungkook, he’d work things out with God to set my life back on track. Memories wiped, a new guardian angel, the works.” You can feel Jungkook stiffen next to you.
“And did you take him up on it?” Lucifer inquires.
“No! No, I would… I would never. But he was so insistent… It sounded like he really wanted me to say yes. I don’t think he was planning to betray me if I took him up on it either.”
Lucifer heaves a heavy sigh. Folding his hands underneath his chin, the king of hell spares a glance at Jungkook, “He’s got a thing for innocents: those he believes did no actual harm in a situation. He’s always been soft that way. He has more of an affinity for humans than I ever did, but I have more reason to loathe humans than he does, so I guess it’s understandable.”
“He did… mention that none of this was my fault.”
“Of course! You were only following the path life laid out for you. It was the fallen angel you have beside you that decided to shake things up, and aren’t you lucky he did? It doesn’t surprise me one bit that you’re still alive. You’ve done nothing but suffer the consequences, it seems, against your own will.”
“But what about the demon he fell for? Or his child? Weren’t they killed so he could keep his spot in heaven?”
Lucifer leans forward, “I’m assuming your friends haven’t made it known to you yet, but they aren’t dead. They are both very much alive. In fact, the child in question was one of the people that helped in tracking you down. The mother… she is here, in hell, meant to stay imprisoned for all eternity. Or at least until the rapture,” with that, Lucifer drinks again, maintaining eye contact with your shocked stare, “but it was best that no one knew of their whereabouts. Only a handful of people even know that Inhui still exists. It’s become something of a legend amongst the demons and angels, shrouded in confusion. None of the angels would care for the mother, but the child would start an earthly war if they knew one still walked the earth. As far as they’re concerned, the child probably died from the natural complications of being an abomination.”
You frown, “How is that possible? An angel for every human on earth… that’s billions of angels and no one has even noticed the guy?”
“I was wondering about that, actually. He told us that he’d been walking the earth for a while now. Surely someone would have taken notice, right?” Jungkook speaks next, having abandoned his food entirely.
Yoongi snaps out of his bored stance, “Tae’s an anomaly. He’s forgotten everywhere he goes. His impression barely lasts long. Those people he encountered early on considered him a dream, or a hallucination, or a possession of the mind. His actual presence is… hazy. It’s easier to remember him by his name or his number, but everything else is-”
“Intangible.” His father finishes with a flourish. “No ordinary angel or demon could ever put a face to the name, only a feeling. Along with the rather excessive amount of glamours he employs when amongst the public, it is no wonder no one has sounded the alarm. Go ahead and recall his face in your mind, fallen. I’m sure you couldn’t piece it together even if you wanted to.”
Jungkook’s face screws up a little as an attempt, stricken dumb moments later when he can’t utter a thing. Your stomach churns at the thought, soiling your appetite even more.
It seemed like there was more to that story than you were being told, but you imagined that it would be quite a lot to relay to you in more than one sitting. After all, you still had no clue what you’d missed since you’d been gone, and it only hadn’t terrified you senseless because you were at least certain that the biggest threat to everyone’s lives had been right there with you the whole time.
“If you’re not planning to eat anytime soon, is there anything else you’d like to know? It’s not every day a mortal like you gets to talk to Lucifer.” With a small flourishing wave of his hand, Lucifer smiles at you, charming as ever. It was so strange. Yoongi acted nothing like his father, and yet you saw every bit of him in his expression.
You imagined Yoongi felt the need to distance himself as much as he could from his father’s intimidating image and had ended up creating his own in the process. Where Lucifer was inviting, however, Yoongi was… not for everyone. Even as he stares over the table at you, eyes hooded with what appears to be indifference rather than lasciviousness, you can’t help but see the other in him.
“I suppose not,” you murmur, “but now that I have the chance, I don’t really know what to say.”
Lucifer continues to smile, “Don’t fret! I’m sure after the doozy you’ve been in, you’ll need to rest up. You’re more than welcome to stay here until you feel it’s safe to go back topside.”
The thought of treating hell like a hotel to stay in was tickling to say the least. The minute you rise, Jungkook follows suit, nearly knocking his chair over in the process to follow you. “I’d appreciate that. Is there… perhaps a room I could cool down in? Maybe a bathroom?”
Lucifer had deposited both you and Jungkook in a rather nice room, fitted with all the things you’d find in a nice resort room overlooking somewhere like the Bahamas. The dark, brooding colors of Hell follow you even here, and what little light you are allowed in the room comes from fire or mysterious ambience. Still, it’s enough to splash your face with (what you’re definitely sure is) water in the ensuite bathroom.
Jungkook sits at the foot of the bed, watching you, “I missed you.”
Since the moment that the Lord of Hell and his son had left you to your devices, you’d become increasingly aware that something was off about your angel. You had imagined that it had been from the sheer worry he felt over you, but it was starting to feel different from that. Something not so easily explained. If only… if only you could figure it out.
You pat your skin dry and look over at him, measuring him up and down. Appearance wise, he still had the same haircut, same clothes, same shoes. It was the aura that felt different.
Slowly, you approach him from the bathroom and wish that there would be more light in the room to examine him with. In that same moment, what appeared to be a ray of warm light halos above you both, giving you exactly what you had wished for. When Jungkook looks up, he looks… radiant. “I missed you too…” You whisper, reaching out a hand to cup his jaw. At your touch, he shudders, melting into you, and those eyes then laser focus on your own. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.” He answers without hesitation, then turns to kiss your inner palm with such a sensual drag of his lips that you grow hot instantly. The surprise makes you yank your hand away and you swear you hear him whine at the missing contact.
“Y-You just look different.” You squeak, holding the aforementioned hand to your chest as if he’d burned you.
Jungkook’s bushy brows furrow. “Do I?”
When Jungkook had been an angel, he’d had a distinct glow about him that set him apart from others. It was cliche, but it made sense then. You knew that you were dealing with someone from another world. When he’d turned human, he’d felt softer, normal. He didn’t glow in any particular way lest the light hit him through the window just right. But now… that glow was back. In a way that didn’t feel familiar.
You reach your hand out again, but this time you let it wander. You push his fringe back from his forehead, then behind his ear, then down his neck to where a sweatshirt hides his collarbones. In a daze, you fall to your knees before his seated frame and push the fabric back some. You find… nothing. You don’t even know what you’re looking for. A vampire bite? What is so different?
Your hand starts to fall mindlessly as you wrack your brain, but it’s all for naught when Jungkook catches hold of it and intertwines his fingers with yours. His grip is warm and solid. But it’s still- “I thought he’d hurt you.”
You look back up into Jungkook’s eyes as he now leans over you with an intense stare. His hair curls around his cheekbones and twists away from his face at the nape, each strand fluttering as he inches closer until the longest ones are touching your face. “Not much. He healed what he did anyway.”
At that, your angel’s eyes narrow in their scan over you, “What did he do?”
You instinctively swallow. Perhaps because you remember the feeling. Perhaps because Jungkook looks like he could kill. “He… he had to get me to limbo. He had to…” You touch the skin of your throat the same moment you break eye contact, feeling the ghost of Seokjin’s fingers there. It wasn’t so long ago that it had happened after all. You could honestly still feel it.
The silence grows until it’s nearly unbearable, you eventually finding that Jungkook will say nothing while you continue to avoid his gaze. Against your better judgement, you chance a look up at him.
You don’t get very long to look. Jungkook takes both sides of your face and lunges forward like a man possessed and you are forced to follow. In your surprise, you stumble back onto your elbows and Jungkook slots himself between your legs, latching onto your lips in a searing kiss. It’s hot and fast and immature, the kiss of a person who has never kissed before and may never get the chance to kiss again. Youngho had never kissed you like this.
A gentle whimper escapes your mouth but Jungkook inhales it into his own. You feel something primal burn inside you when Jungkook growls out, crouching over you now like a predator cornering his prey, and he’s practically consuming you when you start to kiss back. Can you blame yourself? You easily fold into the feeling because it’s Jungkook and goddamn if you hadn’t wanted to kiss him badly before.
His inexperience does very little to dissuade from how good it feels too, and as you start to take over to guide him, he is all too eager to feel your reciprocated passion. The heady feeling he gives you in his sudden attack pushes all thoughts of Seokjin or the last few days out of your mind like a fast-acting asprin. All you can think of now is how tightly coiled you’d been and how Jungkook is loosening you up one press of his lips at a time.
He lays you on your back and you happily oblige, no cushioning found on the hard floor but you couldn’t care less. Jungkook is careful not to be too rough, aware of your needs as much as his own, and it’s jarringly sweet the way he cradles the back of your head to keep you from hitting it on your descent.
When he’s had enough of your lips (as if he could ever), he starts attacking your neck. He’s lapping at your skin and biting away as if he’s trying to remove all traces of Seokjin’s hands… as if he’s replacing the feeling with him and him only. “I’ll kill him,” Jungkook whispers, a foreign fury in his voice that makes your haze disappear in an instant while he continues to work at your neck, “I’ll kill him for ever touching you.”
Your hand shoots to his hair, feeling your heart beat faster from more than just the kisses, “Kook-” But any attempt at sobering up washes away when, to your surprise, he ruts against you. Youngho had never been that good at using his hips like that either. There was something definitely off with Jungkook.
As much as it pains you, you grab at his hair and yank back, ignoring (or trying to) the filthy groan that he gives in response before peeling away from your skin. You gasp for breath, absolutely winded, “What is going on?”
Jungkook pants past wet lips, “What do you mean-”
“Did Yoongi do this to you?” The sudden heated moment is over when you say that.
Jungkook’s blood has run cold. You have a very strong, haunting feeling that your mounting suspicions have proven correct. His eyes… as gentle as they always were when they looked at you, told you everything. He was not the same Jungkook you’d come to know. Something had happened to him. Something irreversible. You touch his face again and this time Jungkook does not move to embrace it. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world. “Why?”
In an attempt to escape your pitiful gaze, Jungkook’s eyes flutter shut, cutting you off from seeing him vulnerable any longer. It breaks your heart the longer he stays silent. There’s no denying it now.
A tear of his touches the palm of your hand instead of his lips this time, “How else could I protect you?” He chokes, weak, “I’m not your angel anymore. I can’t be like you. This is the only way... the only way I could stand to look you in the eyes again.”
#majwrites#jungkook scenarios#jungkook imagines#jungkook au#angel!jungkook#jeon jungkook#bts scenarios#bts imagines#bts au#yoongi scenarios#yoongi imagines#yoongi au#demon!yoongi#min yoongi#bts#jungkook angst#yoongi angst#angel bts#demon bts
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Soulmate AU part 13!!
I meant to update yesterday, but between a long school/work day and going out with friends afterwards for karaoke, it didn’t quite happen. Oops! I’m gonna try to get everything edited in advance so updates hopefully get a little smoother for me to roll out. Thanks for reading!
First • Previous • Here • Next
“So, we’re all agreed?” Tim demanded. “I’ll go in with Robin, play a little good cop, bad cop with them. And once we’ve actually figured out how bad the problem is and what we’d actually be able to do to help, Bats can swoop in and offer a hand.”
“I do not see why we had to plan that,” Damian practically yawned. “It’s what we would have all done anyway if left to our personal inclinations.”
“And why aren’t I in the plan?” Dick asked, pouting like the overgrown child Damian knew him to be. “I can play good cop just as easily! Or swoop in after! I can swoop!”
“Swooping is... bad.” Tim muttered to himself. “I left you out of the plan, Dick, because while we play diplomats to a bunch of teenagers who’ve been saving a whole city near daily for four years without help or acknowledgement, crime in Gotham doesn’t actually stop. You and Jason and Cass are on actual patrol.”
Cass wasn’t there, Damian knew. She’d already left after the first time Drake had gone over his “plan” to start on her actual patrol. Todd looked seconds from taking the same exit, except that he’d wanted to be there too.
“Still say I should be the bad cop,” he grumbled, and Damian kicked the foot he had sticking out from his slump on the chair. He got a half hearted retaliatory kick attempt, which was enough to know that Todd wasn’t truly upset at any of them, just upset that he wasn’t getting to meet the new French heroes. “Kid can go hunt down some more scumbags and sleazeballs. Might even catch Riddler or someone at something tonight. I wanna scare the kids.”
“I told you, you’re too much of an asshole to expose to children without warning. Also, they’re still teenagers. It makes sense to send the two youngest of us in to talk to them.”
“And Riddler’s still locked up,” Father said from his spot, far enough away from them that he could maintain the illusion of not dealing with their squabbling but close enough to listen and chime in. “Try again.”
“Hmm. Harley, taking a swing at Scarecrow for shooting Ivy.” Todd cracked an eye in that direction.
“I’d let her,” Damian groused quietly to himself.
“Speaking of Ivy,” Father’s voice cut through the chatter. “Damian. Mind explaining what you were doing when you got caught up in the attack today?”
Damn.
Damian had honestly let himself hope that the meeting with the new heroes would eclipse what had happened earlier that day.
“I was touring the Gardens,” he said, not dishonestly. “I don’t see why it matters.”
“No, what matters is the fact that you have a girlfriend, and you didn’t tell me,” Dick sighed dramatically. “Where did I go wrong, Bruce?”
“You didn’t actually raise me.” Damian pointed out. “At best, you’ve been a morally guiding nuisance.”
“Jiminy Cricket?” Tim asked, grinning widely.
“Where did you go wrong, Bruce?” Dick corrected, sending a glare towards Tim.
“If you don’t wanna tell us why you were practically hanging off of the poor girl’s every word, you don’t have to,” Todd grinned. “But just remember that what we can imagine is probably far worse than what was actually going on.”
Damian suppressed the urge to groan. He met Drake’s eyes. Surprisingly sympathetic, but then he also hadn’t shared his soulmark with their family to Damian’s knowledge.
“Marinette,” he stressed her name very carefully, with the air of someone who entirely regretted just about everything that had led them to this part of their life, “is my soulmate.”
There was a moment of silence before all hell seemed to break loose.
“A soulmate? And you never told me!?” Dick practically wailed.
“Perhaps I should have pressed the issue more when the marks first appeared.” Bruce murmured.
“There’s no way that sweet girl was your soulmate, Demonspawn.” Todd, crass as ever, objected.
“I think you guys are forgetting that Marinette literally had me on the ground and pinned within the first second of our interaction.” Drake reminded them. “And based on that, I’m guessing she wasn’t lying when she told Gordon she took down two of the goons that came after them.”
“She definitely wasn’t,” Damian found himself saying almost wistfully. He’d found himself at several points that afternoon and evening replaying the memory in his head of Marinette bringing down the idiot who’d tried to bring them to Scarecrow. “Her form needs work, but then not everyone has had the opportunity to train to our standards. I’ll be amending it.”
He found himself met with several frankly insultingly bewildered looks. With a sniff he flattened his expression and did his best to look down on them even from his position as the not quite shortest.
“Oh my god,” Todd said. “She’s actually your soulmate?”
“Cut it out, Jason,” Drake snapped before Damian could. “Or should I say something about your soulmate?”
Damian watched as Todd scoffed but settled down, eyes narrowed at their brother. Dick’s eyes flicked rapidly between Damian and Tim, baffled concern evident. “Did I wake up in an alternate dimension? Like- suddenly Paris has heroes and villains for years that we’ve never heard of, Damian met his soulmate, Tim is defending him, and Damian is letting him?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damian said, meeting Tim’s eyes and watching them light up as he said, “Tim and I have always been perfectly friendly.”
“Honestly, Dick,” Tim took it one step further, slinging an arm over Damian’s shoulders. “I know you were kind of bitter that he latched on to me when you were supposed to be the Batman to his Robin while Bruce was gone, but there’s no need to act out like this.” Damian, against all of his instincts to shove the intruder into his personal space away, leaned into the side hug, and even wrapped his arm around Tim’s waist to complete the picture of easy familiarity.
“You’re not going to trick me into actually checking if we’re in an alternate dimension,” Dick said, and Damian struggled not to grin as Todd sat up a bit straighter.
“And what, next you’re gonna say today isn’t actually Cass’ birthday? You know Alfred’s got the whole cake and everything waiting for after patrol.”
“It’s not-“ Dick panicked, grabbing his phone, checking his calendar. Tim gripped Damian’s shoulder just a bit tighter as he struggled not to break, and Todd’s eyes were narrow and gleeful.
Dick looked up, accusatory and betrayed. All three of them cracked.
“Oh my god,” Todd laughed, as Tim broke down nearly to tears beside him. Damian couldn’t stop himself from laughing too, at the look on Dick’s face. “‘I’m not gonna check-‘ Dick, it only took one more sentence!”
“It wouldn’t have worked if you’d said anyone but Cass,” Dick whined, throwing his grappling hook at them. Jason caught it easily, tossing it back before Dick could prepare for it, catching him in the stomach.
“If you’re all quite done,” Father stood finally. “Damian, make sure you invite Marinette around to dinner tomorrow. I’m sure we’re all equally anxious to meet her. For now, let’s go, before we miss the meeting time we set up.”
“Yes, Bruce,” came the mumbles from his brothers, as Damian nodded his acquiescence.
For now, they’d deal with the Parisian heroes and their crisis overseas. Once that was settled, hopefully Drake could spend some time looking into the oddities in his soulmate bond.
And dinner be damned, he’d try to keep Marinette from meeting these idiots for as long as he could.
TAGLIST:
@the-fusionist @rebecarojas07 @lowandco @kotaleartzu @resignedcatservant @alenee13 @mystery-5-5 @ladybug-182 @actual-disaster-human @loysydark @rumbelle18 @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @athena452 @mochegato @ash-amg @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @thestressmademedoit @sassakitty @doriebell @toodaloo-kangaroo @myazael @theatreandcomicfreak @mer-mel @dahjokester @northernbluetongue @abrx2002 @area51qt @jessigurl-design @renscorpio @cici-schnee @multplelifes @redscarlet95 @razzledazzle247 @rosep16 @emotionalsupportginger @kceedraws @tired-butterfly @kuroko26 @catthhay @moonystars14 @shamefullove @shreky-boi @imanerddealwith @chaosace @captainmac6 @purple-people-eaters-productions @crazylittlemunchkin @weird-pale-blonde-person @bigpicklebananatree
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Restricted Magic Arc 3 pt 8
On October 13th, 2018 I wrote a short story based on a Fictober challenge. That ended up turning into a 3 arc fantasy adventure story of Erin and Gerald, and my first ever long running series on this blog. Before that I had pretty much only done short stories. Unfortunately about a third of the way through the last arc, I hit major writer’s block, and abandoned the story.
Until now.
2 years later, I’m posting a new part. I won’t promise steady or frequent updates to this, but I am going to definitely try to finish this story. It was one of my favorites, and I want everyone to be able to enjoy it to the end with me.
Masterpost is linked here.
Arc 3 pt 7 linked here in case you want a quick refresher on where I left off.
Enjoy!
_____________________
“We’re running out of time.”
Elsinore whispered to herself, crossing her arms across her chest as she shivered with cold. Her fingers dug into her arms, the skin breaking along the tips of her nails. Rivulets of blood ran down, soaking the sleeve of her prison uniform, the pain of the injury dulled by her inner panic. Pacing back and forth around her cell, she stepped in the fluid dripping off her clothes, tracking red footprints on the well-worn floor.
The illusion of Sophia sat on her bed, watching her with a bored expression. “Pretty sure we have nothing but time, living contained in a cell like this.”
“SHUT UP!” Elsinore glared at her sister’s image. “You heard her! Erin is going to MERION!” She threw up her hands. “Merion! Why would she do this to me? I swore never to return there!”
“Is that what happened?” Sophia tapped a finger to her cheek, “Why do I seem to remember that you were banished?” She grinned, jumping to her feet and walking towards her. Her ghostly image tracked over the pooled blood without disturbing it. “But sure, you can pretend it was your choice to not return. Definitely not your punishment for betraying the country… and selling me to the Devil.”
Elsinore clutched her head, trying to ignore the voice of her dead sister, knowing it was her own illusion magic, her own delusion. “Roderick is planning something… why else would he bring her there of all places? No! We have to kill him before its too late!”
“Is that what you told my daughter?”
“She’s betrayed me.” Elsinore paced faster, her eyes wildly looking around the room. “She’s lost focus. So many years. So many sacrifices. And now she’s forgotten everything and abandoned me?!”
“You mean she’s finally looked to a future beyond killing her father? Wanting to survive, get married, have a life that’s about more than just one horrible man?”
“IT’S ABOUT AVENGING HER MOTHER’S MURDER!” Elsinore screamed at the figment of her imagination. “AVENGING YOUR DEATH! THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS!”
“Elsinore…”
“SHUT UP!” She waved a blood stained hand, unsure if the dripping fluid was real or not, her gaze focusing inwards. “I haven’t lost sight of the goal. If she won’t kill him.”
“Sister…”
“Then I will. “
There was a moment of tense silence, broken finally by the screams of the guards outside.
“Fire!”
“The whole building’s burning!”
“Here, this way!”
The door to her cell opened, several armed men ran in, their eyes wide, staring at nothing. Elsinore smiled, spreading her hands widely.
“Why thank you, gentlemen. You’ve served your purpose beautifully.”
The men looked at each other with confused expressions, that slowly changed into ones of horror as their minds fell prey to her magic.
“The witch escaped! Don’t think you can run away!” Facing off, they drew their weapons, each striking the other accurately, and slumping to the ground. Even as they died, their faces were confused, unsure of what was real and what was not.
“Illusion is so close to reality, isn’t it.” Elsinore chuckled, stepping over their quickly cooling bodies and walking out the door. “You really shouldn’t be fooled by such simple lies.”
“You’re one to talk!” The image of her dead sister snorted with laughter, but she ignored her.
“Let’s go.”
She walked down the hallway, her pace casual, unhurried as if she were walking in her own home on her way to tea rather than a bloody hellhole.
Along the way she was attacked several times. They never got near her, striking uselessly in the air as they were caught in her magic again and again. One man brushed passed her, and slumped with shock as she restricted his magic. He had time to scream in fear before dying under the confused attacks from his fellow guards.
The building was burning around her, the heat singing her hair as she passed by.
Elsinore passed by the bodies, the carnage, the destruction of her captors, and she quietly began to laugh.
“Sister…” The illusion of Sophia tried to reach out, but Elsinore could no longer hear her as her laughter grew louder and louder.
She walked out of the door, turning briefly to enjoy the sight of the government building that had been her prison going up in flames.
The fire burned brightly against the quickly darkening sky, the smoke filling the area. Elsinore watched it with fascination, unsure if it were truly burning or not. The guards had fired multiple blasts of flames, it was possible that one of them had begun it accidentally, destroying her former prison. But it could still be her illusion magic, Elsinore simply wasn’t sure.
Not that it mattered either way.
Beyond the crackle of the flames there were no other sounds, everyone else beside Elsinore was dead. She leaned her head back, taking a deep breath to calm herself as her laughter died out.
“Roderick… I’m coming for you.”
Finally he would pay for his sins.
Only then would she truly be free.
_____________________
Olivia and Frederick sat in the front car of the magical transport, each enjoying the trip in their own way.
Olivia was looking out the glass window, watching the scenery as the large metal locomotive moved forward, skimming across the sand as if it were as slick as ice. Resting her chin on one palm, she was a picture of calm. However, every once and a while she would shoot an annoyed glance further into the metal car where a banging noise could be heard.
“Frederick I swear, if you break this transport and we have to walk to Merion, I will destroy you.”
CLANG!
An even louder noise filled the small space, as if to mock her threatening words, and a grease-stained Frederick poked his head up from a small compartment in the floor where he had been happily working.
“Really, you will destroy me?” he grinned. “You and what army?”
Olivia studied her nails, ignoring his sarcasm. “It’s strange…I seem to remember during our last sparring session one of us being defeated… badly.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Like, so badly it was humiliating.”
“Ugh, please don’t…”
“I wonder who that was again?” Her grin was vicious.
Frederick glared. “Fine. Point taken. But keep in mind, I’m not breaking anything!”
“Really? That banging noise I heard was you just passively observing?”
“No, but all I’m doing is trying to get a closer look at this mechanism.” His eyes brightened. “It’s incredible to see a magical artifact like this, something so huge but it moves so smoothly!”
With one hand gesturing further down into the space below the floor, he continued to excitedly explain. “A level 5 earth artifact like this is the stuff dreams are made of. It actually combines several different magics involving the connection between the vehicle and the ground as well as speed adjustment, terrain variability…”
“STOP!” Olivia gave up. “It’s so boring. Please don’t make me listen to another hour long lecture on the wonders of artifacts!”
“This isn’t just an artifact!” He argued back. “This is a work of art!”
“Still boring.”
“How about we compromise? You listen to me gush about how awesome this artifact is, and in return, I’ll let you talk as long as you want about a topic you want.”
“Fashion.”
He winced at her immediate answer. “Really?”
“It’s that or we talk about the many horrifying and disgusting ways the human body can break down and how to fix them with healing magic.”
“…” Frederick sat their silently with a pained expression.
“Well?”
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” He gave a long sigh. ”Fine. Fashion it is.”
Olivia rubbed her hands together. “This will be fun!”
“Okay, but first I get to talk about this artifact.”
“Deal.” She stuck out her hand, which Frederick grasped and shook briefly.
“So, the first thing I love about the mechanism of this particular artifact…”
“Hey you guys!” Christopher interrupted Frederick’s impassioned words as he walked into the car with a pleasant smile. “Enjoying the trip so far?”
Frederick and Olivia didn’t turn to face him. Frederick looked back down at the hatch with a frown, while Olivia pulled out a filing board and began touching up her nails. Neither bothered to respond.
“It looks like you were studying the engine?” Christopher noticed the open hatch in the floor, his cheerful expression fading a little. “That could be very dangerous, I really wouldn’t advise that.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Frederick snorted with laughter. “I know what I’m doing. If I want your opinion on something that you actually know something about, I’ll ask for it.” Rubbing his head with one hand, a trail of grease was left on his forehead.
Olivia pulled out a handkerchief, cleaning him off. “That’s bold of you, assuming he knows something about any topic.”
“Don’t be silly!” Frederick flinched at her scrubbing, but rolled his eyes and finished letting her clean off his face. “He knows a lot about a ton of different subjects!”
“Like what?”
“How about flirting with everything that moves like a dog in heat?”
She nodded solemnly. “You’re right! How could I have forgotten?”
“There’s also harp playing.”
“How about fiancé stealing?”
“Puppy murdering?”
“Hey!” Christopher broke into their back and forth with a frustrated groan. “I thought we had agreed to put that awful nickname behind us?”
Frederick nodded seriously. “You’re right. It was getting old. We need a new one anyways.”
“That’s not what I…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Never mind. I’m looking for Erin. Where is she?”
Olivia and Frederick glanced at each other, and then answered simultaneously.
“She died.”
“Who’s Erin?”
Christopher’s face was twitching, he seemed to force himself to hold a friendly expression.
“Guys, can you tone down the hostility? I’m her fiancé. It’s not like I’m trying to hurt her.”
“You think this is hostility?” Frederick laughed. “That’s cute.”
“I’m really a friendly guy once you get to know me.”
Olivia laughed. “Just keep telling yourself that, Kitten Killer.”
“Ooh I like the new nickname!” Frederick politely applauded.
“I thought the alliteration would give it a certain flair.”
“It certainly did.”
“WE’RE GETTING OFF TOPIC!” Christopher’s voice was raised. He paused, seemingly shocked at the crack in his normally impervious polite mask. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he continued in a more reasonable tone. “Look. I’m just asking a simple question. Do you know where Erin is, or not?”
Olivia stood up, her face grim. “I’ve been wanting to say this for a while.” Her finger raised in the air, poking Christopher’s chest hard enough to force him to step back. “Erin is a better person then you or I will ever be. She’s my best friend in the whole world and I would crawl naked over broken glass before betraying her again. So no, I don’t know where she is, I will never know where she is.” She glared. “At least as far as you’re concerned.”
Christopher stared back at her, confused. “What do you mean again?”
“Olivia, you don’t have to tell him…” Frederick tried to interrupt, but Olivia quickly took over.
“No. He should understand this.” She turned back towards the golden haired young man with a frown. “I made a mistake. I let myself be used by Erin’s enemies. I used an artifact to steal other people’s powers and let her take the blame. I even kidnapped…”
“YOU USED WHAT?!” His earlier calm completely erased, Christopher reached out and grabbed Olivia’s shoulders, shaking her back and forth, silencing her. “You stole other’s powers, leeched their magic, and she FORGAVE you?” He snorted derisively, his face still red with rage. “Impossible. She must not have realized what you were doing! Otherwise she would have left you, there’s no way…”
BAM!
Frederick had moved, almost faster than the eye could follow, and pushed Christopher away from Olivia, slamming him back against the wall of the transport. His fist slammed against the wall, fire magic blazing around his fingers.
“Don’t. Touch. Her.” Frederick looked calm, but his eyes showed the anger just underneath the surface.
“What, no quippy jokes?” Christopher raised an eyebrow, seemingly unconcerned by the burning fist mere inches away from his face. “How unlike you.”
“Just keep going in this direction, and I’ll give you something to laugh about.”
The young man sighed, looking tired. “Fine, fine, I can take a hint. I’ll go away. You can stop threatening to set my hair on fire.”
Frederick stepped away slowly, the flames around his hand sputtering out, and Christopher turned and left through the door towards the next car without another word.
“…” Olivia stepped forward, a complex expression on her face. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem.” Frederick shrugged with a grin. “It’s not your fault you’re so weak that you get bullied by everyone else… but it’s more fun if I’m the one who gets to do it.”
“…”
“Olivia?”
BAM!
“OW!”
_____________________
“You okay?” Gerald reached over from his seat across hers and held Erin’s hand between his own. They had grabbed their own passenger car after Frederick loudly complained about their public display of affection blunting his cynicism and hatred for the world. Erin had rolled her eyes at the time, but was now appreciating the space. The car was quiet, with only the low rumble of the engine moving the transport to break the silence.
She shrugged, staring out the window as the land raced past.
“I’m not sure what’s ahead, but worrying about it won’t change anything. We have to face it.”
“Hey at least the worst is behind us.” At his words, she turned to look at him incredulously.
“What do you mean?”
“EXAMS ARE OVER!” He pumped his fist in the air, a goofy smile on his face. “I’m so happy we survived.”
Erin sighed. “Even ignoring the fact that you somehow have placed exams as the worst thing after we have faced murderers, assassins and entire ARMIES together… you do realize we still have to take final exams at the end of the year before we can graduate?”
“…” Gerald stared at her, looking shocked.
“You forgot, didn’t you?”
His only answer was a sad groan. Chuckling, Erin patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you prepare.”
“Well at least there’s that.”
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, both watching the scenery from the window.
“Gerald, I’m worried.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in his warmth.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m starting to lose control.” She rubbed her forehead. “It used to be easy to keep things hidden, keep things restricted, but now… It’s like something is unbalanced inside me. How many times have I destroyed whole buildings since we’ve returned?”
“I mean, I’m just saying, if your father and that brat of a fake fiancé would leave you alone you could stop rearranging the school architecture, …”
“Maybe it’s from using Aunt Elsinore’s magic for so long… maybe it’s something else. I don’t know…”
“Well maybe we can ask her… have you heard anything from Aunt Elsinore?” Gerald asked her quietly.
Erin shook her head. “No, not since our last conversation, even though I’ve tried several times to contact her.” Her hands curled into fists. “Do you think…”
“Think what?”
“Think my father got to her?” She closed her eyes. “She’s never been out of reach before… and now I worry…”
“Erin…”
“That she’ll end up just like my mother.”
“ERIN!” At Gerald’s shout her eyes sprang open. The window next to them was cracked, the seat around her torn to shreds. It looked as if a storm had raged in the tiny passenger cabin. Erin stared around her, feeling shocked.
“You see?” She reached out, gently touching the cracked glass. “Ever since we fought that army, even the artifact isn’t doing much anymore.”
Gerald sighed. “Your magic flows a lot more easily now then it ever did. With my level 5 Insight you glow like a sun. The amulet holds back less and less each day.”
“It was always supposed to be a temporary solution. But I need it to shield things for a little bit longer. A foreign country is not exactly the best place to confront my father.”
She sighed, placing her head in her hands. “I think he suspects my true powers already.”
“Well, I’ll contact my parents, ask my people to look into what’s happened to Aunt Elsinore.”
Erin smiled at his attempt to comfort her. “Really? It would make me feel a lot better to know she’s safe.”
“Of course! I’ll call them as soon as we arrive.” His head snapped up as he finished talking, seeming to sense something, as he turned towards the door of the cabin with a furious expression.
“No need.”
The words were spoken quietly, barely audible within the passenger car, but the effect on Erin and Gerald was instantaneous.
She leapt to her feet, her face pale and angry, every muscle in her body tense and ready for a fight. Gerald also stood, putting his body partway between Erin and the new arrival, his posture clearly communicating an intent to protect as hers was to attack.
General Roderick smiled, the expression causing cold chills to run down Erin’s spine. “Sit down. We’re not going to fight here.”
Reluctantly, Gerald and Erin sat back, down, this time on the same side. Slowly, her father walked closer, sitting across from them, casually looking around, ignoring the increasingly tense atmosphere.
“What did you mean by ‘no need’?” Erin’s mind was racing as she thought back through their conversation. What had he overheard? How long had he been standing there?
Gerald squeezed her hand reassuringly beside her, and Erin calmed down slightly, with his insight there was no way her father could sneak up on them easily.
“Your inquiries after your aunt.” Roderick’s smile widened. “I’m afraid she’s no longer to be found in her government residence.”
“You mean her prison.”
He ignored her interruption, continuing. “She burnt the whole place down, killing all of my men.”
“…” Gerald and Erin stared at each other in shock.
“I assume you will see her soon enough, so need to waste the time looking for her.”
“What do you…?”
“She’ll be on her way to kill me.” Even as he discussed her aunt’s murderous intentions, he seemed… bored. “I expect her sometime in the next few weeks.”
Erin stood up again, struggling to hold in her magic as anger took hold. “You could be lying. She might be still imprisoned, injured, or…or dead…”
“Oh, Éirinne.” He threw back his head, laughing. The sound filled the room, filling her with unease. His eyes met her own and she nearly stepped back at the sense of danger. “I have no reason to lie. She means nothing to me. Her hatred, her desire for vengeance, mean even less to me than yours.”
At these words he turned to leave the room, almost running into Christopher.
“FINALLY! Erin, I’ve been looking for y…” The golden-eyed young man trailed off as he stopped in front Roderick. His face paling, he sketched an elaborate bow. “Pardon me, General.”
Her father frowned, stepping back away from him as if wary of being too close. “Be more careful in the future.”
With that, he was gone, and Erin could breathe once again.
“Well, at least you’re good for something!” Gerald grinned, although the expression was strained. “Driving away nuisances like General Roderick.”
Christopher shook his head, looking offended. “I didn’t drive him away! He was already leaving.” Hesitating, he took a step towards Erin, who stared impassively back at him.
“Erin, can we talk alo…”
“No.” Her answer was short, she turned away from him to face the window. Undeterred, Christopher stepped forward again.”
“I just need to…”
“I cannot tell you how very little I care for what you want or need to do.” Her gaze met his, and Erin didn’t bother to hide her rage. “Leave me alone, and you can still leave in one piece.”
“…” A silence came over the room. Gerald stood at Erin’s side, arms crossed. He didn’t comment but his posture made it clear he supported Erin’s words. Finally, Christopher sighed.
“FINE.” He threw up his hands. “Just bury your head in the sand, try to pretend the world isn’t ending. I’m trying to save it, but you are so wrapped up in hating me, that you can’t see it!” His face for once did not hold his pleasant, masklike smile but a snarl of frustration. “You know what? Forget it! I’m tired of all of this. You can come crawling back to me when you regret it, and hopefully it won’t be too late. ”
He turned to walk out, but paused to say one last thing.
“How could you be so different from your mother?!”
And with that he was gone.
Erin felt her head spin, and unsteady, sat down, clutching the edge of the window for support. The seat cushion underneath her began tearing, the wood groaning under the strain as her poorly controlled magic bent it away from her. The spider web cracks deepened on the window, the frame warping around it.
“Erin, are you okay?!”
After a long, uncomfortable pause, Erin looked up at Gerald, trying to take deep breaths, to control her emotions, her magic.
“How does Christopher know my mother?”
#writing#restricted magic#i updated it!#not a huge update considering how much time has gone by#but if i don't get started somehow i never will#wish me luck#this doesn't mean i'm dropping please fix the story either#that's still the primary project#this is a passion piece that i'm determined to finish#fantasy#revenge#romance#arc 3
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Almost A Thousand Years - Witch Hunt | Hisirdoux Casperan
Plot: You’ve known Hisirdoux Casperan for almost a thousand years. You’ve hated him for almost a thousand years. And for almost a thousand years, you’ve been cursed to feel each others pain. But somewhere in that time, things changed. [Hisirdoux Casperan x Mostly Gender Neutral but Probably Female Presenting Based on How Historical Men Treat Them!Reader]
Word Count: 4,463
Warnings: i swear some more and uh... i can’t really give a warning, it’s spoilers. you’ll probably like it tho, i promise
A/N: today’s a/n shout out goes to @furblrwurblr for drawing femboy hooters douxie and fucking cursing me
Taglist: @furblrwurblr @rainningdoom @fluffydmonkey @blondie0458 @sitherin-mxschief @jinxedleo @lawlesshedgehog @einahpetsyarcip @dolphincommander
Back | Next
“I told you the boy was bad news Master,” past you said with way too much pride in their voice for your liking.
“Oh, would you shut up?”
“So you’re me from the future, then? Tell me, how do you end up travelling time with the likes of that git?”
“Oi, shut your mouth you little-” Douxie put his hand over your mouth, effectively shutting you up for the time being.
“Calm down (Y/N), please,”
Both you and your past self said “No,” in unison. It would have been funny in literally any other situation, but alas, this was what fate handed to you.
“All of you, silence! Have you any idea what you’ve done? I knew my apprentice was an ignoramus, but travelling through time? Time!”
You felt a very strong urge to scream, but fortunately, Douxie was doing the talking.
“I think we handled ourselves just fine, all things considered. And technically, it was your idea,”
“Damn right,”
“Well, then, you must have botched it up! My planning is flawless!”
“For the record, Master, I had nothing to do with this. He did, which is me, and… ugh! Time travel, so confusing!” past Douxie was awake, and you decided right then if anyone said anything else you were going to knock him, your past self, and Merlin unconscious just for some peace and quiet.
“Aah! The timelines are in complete disarray!”
Oop, that counted as saying something, “They’re about to be in more disarray,”
“Seriously, (Y/N), calm down,”
“Don’t you talk to me… us? Like that!” past you was a little confused, but they still had the spirit. It was the wrong kind of spirit, but spirit nonetheless. You sighed, knowing that Douxie was right.
“No, (Y/N)? Me? Whatever. He’s right, I just need a second,”
Past you froze in absolute shock while Douxie's past self decided to relish in the fact that you were wrong.
Present Douxie didn’t have a lot of patience for this, “Look, both of you, quiet down for a second. Master, I can fix this, I swear!”
“Ah-ah, your meddling has already wreaked enough havoc on history!”
“Then surely we can use the time map to change things back, and then it’ll all be as it was,” Archie said as you, your Douxie and the familiar surrounded Merlin, your focus on the time map in your former master's hands.
“It doesn’t work that way. The map only offers glimpses of possible futures! There are no detailed instructions,”
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Douxie said, reaching towards the device before Merlin slapped his apprentice’s hand away causing both of your hands to sting.
“Ow. Look, life doesn't come with instructions, and we live through it every day without causing too much damage. We can manage this! It’ll be fine,”
“Not that bad, eh? It’ll be fine, eh!?” Merlin said before revealing just what the time map had to show you.
King Arthur was on the ground, dead. Needless to say, that was not good.
“Oh, fuzzbuckets,” Both Douxies and your past self said.
“Oopsie,” you grimaced at the consequences of your actions.
“Your little dungeon break must have changed fate! Now, unless I stop it, the king will die!”
Merlin stormed out of the room, off, probably, to fix your mistakes. Beside you, your Douxie groaned, bracing himself against the table. You put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
“Seriously, how can you stand to touch him?”
It was your turn to groan. You didn’t even look at your past self as you responded, “Because he is my friend and I care about him,”
It may have been a risky statement, one that could doom both you and your wizard, but the smile on Douxie’s face was worth it.
“I don’t understand, how can you-”
Douxie cut off his past self, “You’ll understand when you’re older. Now, you two stay here, we have to go,” he grabbed your hand, and you left to find Claire or anything else that would help save the future. Whichever came first.
It was Claire. Claire came first. You could hear the knights cheering from your place in the shadows. The noise was a decent cover-up for your conversation.
“They’re hunting Jim! If they catch him, he’ll be killed!”
“I know, and he’s not the only one. Because of us, Arthur’s now fated to eat the big one, too!”
“Eat the what? Oh, no, was I supposed to bring food?”
“He’ll be eating a death sandwich, Steve,”
“Ugh, who would eat that? Gross,”
Douxie groaned, but you couldn’t help but laugh a little. Times were tough, but that didn’t stop you from admitting that Steve absolutely had a point.
“Look, if Arthur dies, we lose the Battle of Killahead and the war,”
“Which will probably mess up time so much, you’ll never be able to return home,” Archie said, pawing his way around your hiding space.
“At least, not our home,” you glared at the ground, as if the dirt was the reason the world was at stake.
“Oh no! Toby!”
You looked up at the time map just in time to see the War Hammer disappear into a blue mist. That could not be a good sign.
“What’s happening to him?”
“The future- our future, is vanishing!”
“There’s gotta be a way to fix this,” you said, using the time map, searching through time to find something that would save your home. Among the red, there was a moment of blue. You paused as an image of Arthur and Morgana getting along flashed into the sphere.
“What’s that?” Claire asked before you had the chance to ask the same thing.
“Well, that wasn’t there before. It’s a new timeline, one where Arthur and Jim live,”
“And Morgana’s the hero? I thought she was destined to become Mistress Doom,”
“No, you’re thinking Mistress of all Dark Magic. Mistress of Doom is… something else,”
“What?” Douxie paused, looking at you with vast amounts of suspicion.
“You’d be surprised by some of the house calls I’ve made. Now, keep talking,”
Douxie shook his head, but he was smiling. Good. You loved that smile.
“It looks like there’s a possibility if we get Arthur and Morgana to reconcile, then somehow, nobody dies,”
“I don’t think I have to say that that’s the outcome we want!”
You took a moment just to look at Douxie’s face. In this small moment of victory, which was over too soon, he looked happier than you’d seen him in a while. Of course, you never saw his face when he looked at you.
“Squire Steve! We are all thirsty!” and bam, moment over. Thanks, Gallahad.
“I’ll keep an eye on Morgana. Douxie, you work on Arthur. (Y/N), Steve, make sure they don’t kill my boyfriend,”
“We’re on it. Don’t die out there, guys,”
“We won’t,” Douxie said, taking one last look at you before he ran off. You and Steve did the same.
About a minute in, you could feel things going wrong. Your chest hurt as if you’d crashed to the floor. It wasn’t awful, so you ignored it and kept moving forward, following Steve and the knights and making a mental note to make sure Douxie was ok when you had time. A smirk made its way onto your face when said wizard knocked his past self out. You couldn’t imagine that it was good for him, but if he could still perform magic, he was ok.
And after that, things were okay.
At least for you.
Douxie was having a difficult time getting Arthur to listen to him. Magic, as always, turned out to be a useful tool. The king and his sister began their reconciliation, but something was troubling him. He saw the way they looked at the illusion of Gweneviere. They had both loved her. Arthur even called Gwen “the heart of him,” and they had lost her. He could see the grief on their faces, how it killed the king and weighed down the sorceress was clear to anyone who looked at them the right way.
This was not the first time Douxie contemplated his fear of losing you. He’d been afraid of that for a long time, and one could say that he was used to the familiar sense of anxiety that made itself at home within him whenever you were in danger. But now? Now he looked at the faces of the royal family and realized that losing you would completely destroy him.
Douxie was already a selfless person, one who would sacrifice everything he was to save the world, but right then, he decided that he would sacrifice the world to save you. You were the world to him.
But he couldn’t focus on that right now. He had a job to do.
So did you. And Steve was not making it any easier.
“Kill the beast!”
“Wait, kill? I thought this was catch and release!”
“Oh, my g- ok, come on, Steve,”
You grabbed the boy by his armour and dragged him along as you followed the group, stopping dead when you reached the troll that the guards spoke of.
Arthur’s men had slung chains around the creature, restricting its movement to next to nothing. You were not okay with this.
“Squire Steve, will you do the honours?” Lancelot asked, tossing his sword to the boy.
The boy whimpered, very obviously uncomfortable with this. He turned to you, eyes desperately searching for instructions on what to do in this situation. You shook your head, trying to get across that needless murder should probably be avoided.
Whether or not Steve got the message, you would never know. The troll jumped at the teen. You jumped in front of him, creating a shield with your magic, and Arthur jumped in front of you, swinging a sword at the troll and putting himself in some pretty needless danger. You couldn’t talk on that subject though. When it came to needless danger, you were freaking royalty.
“Careful, young squire, witch,” he spat out your title like it was a curse, “Show these beasts no sympathy,”
He kicked the troll into the sunlight, turning it to stone instantly. You looked on with disappointment as the guards cheered.
Behind you, Steve whimpered again. You turned, hoping to provide some comfort, or calm the kid down at least, when you froze, your blood running cold. Behind Steve stood Bular, aka the Troll who kept trying to kill you.
“Shit,”
The Gumm-Gumm prince knocked Steve aside, advancing and attacking the guards. He hadn't noticed you yet, and you intended to keep it that way, staying out of the troll's field of view, and going after Steve instead. You helped the boy up and off the ground. He wasn't injured, but you realized that the king was about to be.
Before you could do anything, Douxie and Merlin had things under control, saving Arthur and taking out the troll prince. You breathed a sigh of relief. If things went well, Bular wouldn’t see you. Very few things ever went well, but you had your fingers crossed.
And it worked! For once, things went your way. Arthur knocked the Gumm-Gumm out with a kick to the face. Sure, he said some very menacing and antagonistic things right after, but you had no thoughts in your head other than, “Well, that was convenient,”
You watched the guards take Bular away, taking note of Morgana questioning who the real monster was. If Bular hadn’t tried to kill you and your friends and hadn’t successfully gotten you tortured a couple decades ago, you might have agreed with that. Unfortunately, he had.
You hadn’t realized that you’d lost yourself in memories until Douxie said your name.
“-(Y/N), are you alright, love?”
“I-” you watched them take the troll out of sight, “I will be,”
Your wizard took one of your hands, squeezing it, “I’m right here if you need me,”
“I know,”
It was silent for a moment. Then you heard the knights calling Steve.
“I should go,”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,”
“But I should. Someone needs to make sure that kid doesn’t run into any more high ranking Gumm-Gumms,”
Douxie seemed hesitant, but he respected your choice, “Stay safe,”
“You too,”
From the corner of her eye, Morgana watched you and Douxie. She wasn’t focused on it, per-say, but she did find it odd. Were Merlin’s apprentices not constantly at each other’s throats? She ignored it for now and moved on.
Things went decently for you after that. The forest was peaceful, the knights were quiet. Everything was chill until Steve decided to walk through a trap. You weren’t sure why he didn’t just stop. Kids these days, honestly.
You winced as the arrows hit his armour and his skin. Beside you, Gallahad and Lancelot were absolutely losing their shit. You had to admit, it was kind of funny, but you were also concerned for your friend. You put up a shield around him, sheltering the teen from any further arrow-related damage. Needless to say, the knights were very disappointed.
“Oh, come on, now! Don’t spoil all the fun,”
“It was fun for the first minute. Now I’m concerned for his health,”
“Really? Merlin’s witch apprentice showing concern? Well then, we’ve found something rarer than the holy grail!”
You took a moment, keeping up your shields as the king and his guards moved through the trap, Lancelot and Gallahad now supporting Steve.
It was weird to see how much you’d changed. Talking to your past self had been surreal, and a decent reminder of what a little shit you had been, but you hadn’t considered the specifics. Past you was a scared kid doing what their king told them to. Under Gunmar, you didn’t have any interests or hobbies outside of getting stronger and staying alive. Even after you left, you really didn’t start to become who you were now for a few centuries. You'd been scared that the Gumm-Gumms would come for you at any moment, and that fear wouldn't leave you until at least the fifteen hundreds. You suddenly felt enormous amounts of guilt weighing on your shoulders. Guilt about what you’d forced your past self to go through, that you never got a childhood worth having, that you hadn’t been a person for so long that it took centuries to take a real interest in something. And you felt guilty about how you’d treated other living things. You knew now that everyone who could be saved deserved saving, but the child you were in the twelfth century didn’t know that.
But you couldn’t fix the past, even though you were now reliving it. The only thing you could do was forgive yourself.
And so you did.
Then you ran after the knights to see if Steve was okay.
He was. Teenagers are surprisingly resilient, that’s how they can do dumb things and not die. You counted Steve coming out of that trap mostly unscathed as a win. What wasn’t a win was Lancelot spotting Jim and Callista, looking at what appeared to be Jim’s phone.
You had no idea if that would affect the space-time continuum, but what would affect you personally was your friends getting shot. And Lancelot was aiming a crossbow at them. Great.
Beside you, you could hear Steve’s internal panic. This time he didn’t turn to you, instead, he chose to act, smacking the crossbow out of the knight’s hands. The arrow still fired, but there was still time. You put a spell on the arrow, knocking it off course a little more and lessening the impact. However, there was still an impact. You could hear as much from the trolls below you.
Lancelot lined up another shot, but Steve knocked the weapon aside again, and you used your magic to push the crossbow out of reach. It didn’t do much, but it bought your friends some much needed time. The knight thrust the crossbow at Steve, clearly frustrated.
“What if we just let this one go?” Steve’s efforts were admirable, you’d give him that much
“You never let them go,”
Lancelot turned away from you to face the king, who was rallying his soldiers.
You put a hand on Steve’s shoulder, “Hey, you did a good thing, kid,”
“Thanks, (Y/N),” Steve’s voice shook slightly, and you felt awful. If you had time, you probably would have hugged him, told him everything was going to be okay, and maybe adopted him, but right now, you had to find some way to protect Jim.
The knights ran off, leaving you and Steve watching them go.
Douxie and Merlin came out of the bushes, clearly in pursuit of the king. They called out to him before running off again.
“C’mon Steve, we have to follow them,”
The boy, who was still shaken, nodded, following behind you as you ran after everyone else.
Things were not going well. Morgana and Arthur were fighting, knights were surrounding the area, and Lancelot was firing arrows at children.
Claire was skilled enough to fend for herself, scaring Lancelot, but before the knight could say anything that everyone would regret, Steve knocked him out with a large rock. You were a bit surprised, but also very pleased.
“Whoa, man, that troll- that came out of nowhere! Right guys?”
Lancelot woke, only for Steve to hit him again. You were very proud.
“Nice one, Steve!”
“Thanks! Uh, can you do your doctor thing? Make sure I didn’t kill him?”
You kind of doubted that Lancelot had been killed by the rock, but head trauma exists in every century, so you nodded and began your assessment. You managed to focus up and do your work, ignoring the clanging metallic noise of the battle before you. Then the pain hit you. It was like you’d been thrown back into a tree, but that hadn’t happened, so what was- Douxie!
You rushed your assessment, focused on the ache in your spine, “He isn’t dead, Steve, you’re in the clear,”
The teenager punched the air, saying something that you weren’t paying attention to.
“Sorry, kid, I’ll be right back,”
That was kind of a lie. You weren’t sure when you’d be back.
You made your way to Douxie’s side, helping him up as Morgana sent a beam of gold magic into the sky, before bringing it down on the earth like a whip. Your wizard pulled you close to him, trying to shield you from the magic. Had she been paying attention, Morgana would have declared this officially strange, but at the moment she was fighting her brother and former mentor.
You, Claire and Douxie thought it would be a good idea to try and reason with the angry sorceress.
“Stop! We found another way!”
“It doesn’t have to be like this!”
“We can do this peacefully!”
“The time for peace ended long ago,”
“Morgana,” Claire called out, “He’s not the enemy,”
Morgana continued to rant, but you were a little distracted by the fact that she was now flying. It wasn’t the best choice either of you had made, but you and Douxie got closer, just in time for the sorceress to cast a spell, creating shadow-like clones of herself.
“Oh, buckets,” Douxie said as shadow-clones appeared before all of you.
“Yeah, that,” you drew your sword. There wasn’t much left to do but fight.
Unfortunately, you were in the minority when it came to having a weapon. You watched as your friends struggled and dodged, eventually backing away, but wherever they went the shadows followed (as shadows are wont to do.)
Your small group found their way to a cliff, overlooking the ocean. You recognized this place, but you weren’t sure how.
You could hear Merlin call for someone to protect the king, but you were a little busy fighting for your life at that moment.
Somehow, you found an opening and sliced through the clone. You only enjoyed your victory for a moment before Douxie was thrown to the ground, causing you both to wince from the pain. You were about to make your way over to him when Arthur pointed his sword towards the sky, drawing a spell into the blade and releasing it into the ground, knocking everyone back and banishing the shadow-clones.
Douxie helped you up before you both ran to get the time map. The sphere flickered from red to blue. You looked out into the sunset and suddenly realized where you recognized this place from.
Morgana’s name left your lips and Douxie’s at the same time. The time map’s sphere showed the sorceress’s body.
You and your wizard ran towards the duelling siblings in a last attempt to stop them, but you were once again blown back.
You screamed as Morgana fell off the cliff for the second time in your life.
You couldn’t remember walking back to the castle.
You knew you must’ve done it because you would remember being carried back, but you didn’t know how you got from the cliff to Camelot.
And now Claire was talking, “She’s gone. We failed,” as if you needed reminding.
“No,” Douxie’s voice came from beside you, “I failed. Master, I-I’m so sorry,”
“This is why you don’t meddle with time,”
You didn’t even sass Merlin about how this was his idea. You were out of sass at the moment. Your head was full of static as you tried to process things.
“But I tried, I tried to fix it,” Douxie fell to his knees, his eyes on the still flickering time map.
Correction, your brain was full of static and heartbreak. You knelt beside your wizard, putting your hands on his shoulders as he focused on the time map.
“Don’t you see, boy? There is no ‘fixing’ anything, Every change has consequence. Knowing the future is a responsibility to bear with caution, lest you cause the worst things to happen,”
You couldn’t look Merlin in the eye. Even as he walked away, you didn’t watch him go.
“Morgana’s dead, Excalibur's broken. This never happened,”
“We are in uncharted territory,” Archie said, coming closer to you and Douxie, allowing the wizard to pat him.
The pain in your chest was his. The utter anguish he felt over failing to fix things stabbed through you. And it wasn’t just that. He had failed Claire, and Steve, and Jim. He had failed Merlin, and Toby and Camelot. But the worst thing was he had failed you. He had destroyed your future, and now you were stuck here. The very thought of it ripped through him, and you felt all of it.
You bit your lip, just then realizing what that day was.
As if he realized what was to come, Archie took a few steps back, wandering away from the two of you.
“Hey, Doux,” he turned to look at you, the sorrow in his eyes eating you alive, “This was the night. In our timeline, anyway,”
“What?”
“Where was that fight again? Merlin’s study? The staircase? The throne room?”
“(Y/N)?”
“If we wait outside, do you think we’ll see it happen?”
The pieces fell into place for him, too.
“I don’t even know if it will,”
You waited a moment.
“Who knows. We hated each other enough, we might still get cursed,” The joking tone in your voice made you both smile, even though it didn’t reach your eyes.
“Seriously, though, Douxie. I think whatever bond Merlin gave us, I-” you took a deep breath, knowing that what you said next would definitely damn you both. But that didn’t matter. He needed to hear this.
“I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You are the best thing that ever happened to me,”
Douxie looked surprised, only for a second, before his eyes cast their gaze to the ground, to the time map that sat closed on the floor. “Are you sure?”
His voice was so quiet you barely heard him, and it was so sad, so scared, that you could feel your heart shatter into a million pieces right then and there, “Yeah,” your voice felt like it would break at any minute, “Yeah, I’m sure,”
Your predictions were correct. Your voice broke and tears came to your eyes, much to your embarrassment.
“(Y/N),” Douxie turned his body towards yours, taking your face in his hands, “You-” he took a second, also feeling that his voice would fail him at any minute, “You mean everything to me, and I-I ruined your future. We don’t have a home to go back to, and it’s my fault, I-”
“Douxie,” you cut him off, “As long as I’m with you, I’m home. If we have to, we’ll just build a new future, together,” you ran a hand through his hair. This was it. This is what was going to kill you, “I love you, Hisirdoux Casperan,”
There was silence.
And then his lips were on yours.
Do you remember the kiss in the 80s? Yeah, that was child’s play compared to this.
Your lips fit together perfectly, his hands glided over your back, pulling you closer to him. Your hands held his face, swiping away at the tears that threatened to fall. You found your bottom lip captured between his. A gasp escaped you when he bit down. It wasn’t enough to draw blood, but it was enough for your heart to race a little faster, if that was even possible, and tighten your grip just a little. You could almost feel his pulse racing, and you were absolutely certain he could feel yours. Your last kiss had been everything in your past, but this kiss was your future. It was a promise that no matter what came next, you would face it together.
And then you remembered exactly what it was that your future held.
T'was a mood killer.
You broke the kiss, almost unwillingly and definitely wanting more, but Douxie had been right. He should know what, “I don’t want to kill you anymore,” meant.
Also, there was a loud crash and bright lights from one of the towers, and that was pretty distracting.
“Those damn kids. Did we really fight so much?”
That almost got a laugh from you, but you had something else to focus on right now. You rested your forehead against his for a moment, just breathing for a second before your spoke, your voice low, “Douxie, I have to explain some stuff,”
“What is it, darling?”
“You were right, there’s some stuff you should know. Doux, I think now is later,”
You bit your lip before standing and motioning for him to follow you into the castle, “Let’s go,”
#hisirdoux x reader#hisirdoux casperan x reader#douxie x reader#douxie imagine#hisirdoux imagine#almost a thousand years#aaty#hisirdoux#hisirdoux casperan#douxie#toa douxie#toa hisirdoux#angst#fluff#kissing
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Alrighty my friends, here’s a junk food movie I was in the mood for.
Despicable Me 2
Gru faces off against love...again.
Stephen is a villain with three adopted children, Peter (Margo), Harley (Edith) and Morgan (Agnes).
They are the reason he is still a villain because no one would dare come after them knowing the power he has and the lengths he’s willing to go through to keep them protected.
And being a villain has this perk, unlike the heroes who are always saving their damsels from him.
What irony.
It unfortunately doesn’t stop his nosey neighbor from trying to pry into his life, even if he is his therapist.
And it most certainly doesn’t stop him from being kidnapped and taken to Avengers HQ, where Nick MF Fury needs his help.
Turns out there have been these beings called Elementals which seem to have escaped from another dimension and are wrecking havoc on different parts of the world and for whatever reason, Fury needs Stephen’s help dealing with the last of them as the rest of the Avengers are busy fighting the other three.
Stephen is taken aback by this sudden information dump.
How the hell do they know these things come from another dimension?
And what they were called?
And where had he heard ‘Elementals’ before?
And what does he mean he needs Stephen’s help? Stephen is a father now, he can’t go off risking his neck for Fury when three lives depend on that neck.
He’s not one of his Avengers.
Fury then asks him if a partner would make him change his mind.
The one who kidnapped him and brought him here.
Stephen wonders who it could be, hoping to every god in existence it isn’t Rogers because he would never live that down.
No, no it’s far worse than that.
It’s Tony Stark.
His arch nemesis.
The love of his life.
Not that Tony knows that of course.
Tony isn’t too thrilled about working with Strange after all the fights they’ve had in the past and the messes he’s had to clean up after the Sorcerer. but tries to put their differences aside seeming how they have to work together.
They decide to meet up the following day so Stephen can see the destruction this ‘Elemental’ left in its wake for himself.
And, of course, the kids want to go with him.
Upon meeting Tony, Peter is polite, Harley is a little shy but gives him a smile which is saying a lot more than words for him, and Morgan asks him if Tony is single.
Tony instantly loves the kids, finding it sweet how they tackle Stephen to the ground to hug him and even though Stephen tries to brush it off and start a fight with Tony over it, Tony just tells him he must be a pretty good guy if those kids can love him as much as they do.
Stephen feels his heart melting.
Of course he’s a good guy. Not a GOOD good guy but a better guy than most.
Villains who go after kids are a whole level of evil Stephen refuses to sink to.
He asks Tony about how Fury got the information about whatever caused this destruction being called an Elemental and being from another dimension.
He knows he’s heard that name somewhere.
And the answer surprises Stephen. There’s apparently a magic user on their side calling himself Mysterio, but that’s all Tony knows.
Stephen knows this has Loki in one of his disguises.
Only Loki would talk such rubbish and be able to use magic.
There’s no one else it could possibly be, not on earth anyway, and no one else would be stupid enough to use some grand alias like “Mysterio.”
But he needs proof.
If he calls him out now, he might do something that could cause more destruction to their vicinity; and with his children and Tony here, that’s not a risk Stephen is willing to take.
Once Tony and Stephen go their seperate ways, his nosey neighbor is back, trying to ask him questions about what he’s been up to and, if Stephen cared, or was interested at all in anyone but Tony Stark, maybe he’d give him some of his time other than what he already pays him for, but he doesn’t, and he isn’t, so he just says goodnight to him and ushers his kids into the house.
And Stephen is feeling pretty good about working with Tony instead of fighting him, looking down at Tony’s number in his phone.
He has Tony Stark’s phone number.
And right when he’s about to call it, his phone rings.
But it’s Fury on the end of the line, wanting to know their progress.
Stephen doesn’t have much to say and Fury isn’t answering his queries about this Mysterio again.
He doesn’t get the secrecy and is about to hang up when Fury tells him that this is Tony’s last assignment.
He’s going to quit being an Avenger.
And when Stephen asks him why Fury is telling him this, he finally decides to answer one of his questions.
Because it’s what Tony wants, and after everything he’s done and been through, he deserves to retire.
Stephen’s ears are almost ringing with the silence after the call.
He and Tony won’t ever fight again?
Won’t ever see each other again?
Maybe it’s for the best they don’t find Loki after all.
If he just drags this out a little, maybe Tony will change his mind?
He looks back down at the number he was going to call.
And switches his phone off instead.
The next day as Tony and Stephen try to figure out how they can make Loki show himself with as little casualties as possible, the kids are off doing their own thing.
Morgan is wishing for Stephen and Tony to get together at the wishing fountain, Harley is stealing coins from the bottom of the fountain for Morgan to continue her wishing, and Peter experiences his first crush when a beautiful red head walks past and catches his eye and leads him away.
Harley and Morgan burst in on Tony and Stephen, who jump apart at the sudden intrusion before anything can happen, Morgan yelling about Peter having a girlfriend.
And just like that, Stephen is off.
He’s not going to let some nobody come along and try anything.
Especially when that nobody could be working with Loki.
If Peter got hurt...
But no matter where he looks, Peter is gone.
And then everything around him goes black, and from the darkness, a face he knows all too well looms above him.
But it’s not actually him, there’s no magic doing this.
He’d know.
He turns around, ready to tell everyone not to fear and to stick close, when he realises Harley, Morgan and Tony aren’t anywhere around either.
He’s completely alone.
And when he hears Morgan screaming, this prankster has officially gone too far.
The surge of power he unleashes causes the face and the darkness to crackle and turn to static before the real world reappears around him.
And the first thing he sees is Tony in his Iron Man suit, protecting Morgan and Harley.
The kids run into his arms and Tony let’s out a sigh of relief as he lowers his hand, but there is still no sign of Peter.
Tony suggests Stephen get Morgan and Harley home while he searches for him.
Stephen won’t be bossed around by an Avenger and he won’t be leaving without his son, but Tony asks that he trust him.
He’s got his suit and he can see through the illusions so he can do this while Stephen takes care of his kids, who need their father.
Stephen looks down at Morgan’s scared face and reads the fear in Harley’s eyes.
Tony promises to find Peter.
Stephen just has to trust him.
So Stephen agrees.
He creates a portal back home and tucks his kids in, sitting in a chair to watch over them and blast away any illusions that could seperate another child from him, overthinking the events that caused two children to be in this room instead of three.
How had someone known what that face looked like?
And then Stephen’s phone goes off.
He instantly checks it, hoping it’s from Tony.
But it’s from his neighbor.
Stephen can’t believe this.
This guy has been trying to get him to go on a date with him for the past several months and won’t take no for an answer, no matter what Stephen says or does.
And then he feels a cold sweat start to break out over his skin.
His neighbor was one of those movie buffs who loved special effects.
His neighbor had been going on about this new movie he was making about Elementals destroying the city.
His neighbor knew everything about Stephen Strange because his neighbor was also his therapist.
His neighbor had his son.
Stephen doesn’t waste any time.
He’s out of his house and past the letterbox that says ‘Beck’ on it, blowing the door half way down the hall as he enters the house standing right next to his own.
Quentin is sitting at his table as if he had been expecting Stephen, sipping his tea rather casually while the Sorcerer demands his son.
Quentin doesn’t answer, just points to the many screens before him.
Stephen gets closer and sees Peter on one of them.
And Tony approaching on another.
But there was something wrong with the way he was moving.
His legs seemed to drag him forward, very unlike the confident strides he had come to know.
Like the suit is being controlled.
Quentin smiles when Stephen realsises his plan.
He has listened to Stephen go on about Tony Stark for years now, and he grew to hate him just as much as Stephen did.
He knew he could do it. He knew he could be the one to kill Stark, to do what Stephen hadn’t been able to do.
He just needed time to perfect his masterpiece.
Now Stephen can be seen as the hero and Stark the Villain.
And Stephen will still have two children after the end of it.
Stephen is out of there before he can hear any more, getting to Tony before he can harm Peter.
Tony is trying his best to wrestle some control of the suit and not freak out as his body is forced into painful angles as the metal encasing him tightens to the point of almost crushing him within it.
But Stephen knows this suit’s weakness.
He knows every weakness he’s ever found in each and every suit Tony has ever fought him in.
This suit in made from Tony’s own nanotechnology, but there are only so many he can store within the housing unit until there are none left to restore the pieces Stephen can hack away at.
And that is exactly what he does, freeing Tony from it at last.
Tony doesn’t care his suit is ruined, it’s not like he was planning on wearing it again.
And that reminds Stephen.
Now that they won’t be fighting anymore, Tony is going to have a lot of time on his hands.
Tony agreees.
Which means...they could go on a date sometime.
Tony laughs.
And agrees again.
Quotes -
“Okay, I see where this is going, with all the mission: impossible stuff, but no. No! I’m a father now.”
Stephen has priorities and what Nick Fury wants ain’t one of them.
“So when are you going on your date?”
“What?”
“Remember? Miss Jillian said she was arranging a date for you.”
“Yeah, well, she is a nut job, and I’m no going on any date.”
“Why not? Are you scared?”
“Scared? Of what? Women? No! That’s bonkers! I just...I have no interest in going on a date, that’s all. Case closed. I’m not scared. Of women. Or dates.”
Stephen doesn’t want to go on any dates and Harley calls him out on it.
“Are you gonna marry Lucy?”
“Are you out of your gourd? No! She just works with me.”
“Plus, you love her. You love her! You love her! You really, really, love her!”
Morgan’s the only smart one.
“Don’t worry about me, Fru! I’ll be fine. I have survived lots worse than this...actually that’s not true I’m kinda freaking out up here!”
“Don’t worry, I will get you out of this!”
Tony never thought he’d need rescuing from Stephen Strange of all people.
Bad to the Bone.
Stephen Strange has no redeeming qualities at all. Nope. Not one.
Or so Tony thought.
Under that villain exterior is a man with a good heart big enough for three orphans.
And maybe there’s room for one more.
Missed a Day? Catch up here!
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Sunset Sound: God is Dead?
I might start updating twice a week because I am writing this story at BREAKNECK speed. this is my favorite chapter so far. enjoy! (special thanks to @friedchickenangelwings once again for sticking with me and my incessant rambling about this story at all hours during holidays)
Fic Summary: Everything is the same up to the end of 15x20. Chuck has been “defeated,” but it was all a farce. When Jack absorbed Chuck, Chuck easily took over the 3 year old’s body and acted as if he were defeated. Chuck!Jack then had the Rusty Nail placed in the barn where Dean died, and with Cas gone, Dean didn’t fight it. Chuck did reimagine Heaven, but he’s fed the same lie to them all: that everything is perfect, they are free, they are in real paradise. Except it’s all an illusion insulated by blue skies and endless horizons. Because, just like the Good Place, people make Heaven into Hell for each other. And there’s nothing Chuck loves more than the natural order of tragedy. He “let it slip” to Bobby that he brought Cas back, when he really left him to rot in the Empty. Dean has to find his best friend before it’s too late, and he has to keep a happy face for everyone else, because Chuck is watching. Always watching.
“You know?” Dean shakes his head. “What’s going on?”
Charlie leans back against the bar. “Well, after Ash and I found each other-” they give a cute little nod of the head in sync, dorks, “through the frankly shitty wifi they’ve got up here, we got to talking.”
“Yeah, we realized some shit just didn’t add up. Like angel radio.” Ash spins around and ducks into his backroom, coming back with a laptop that’s way more advanced than it was last time. Dean raises his eyebrows at it. “Yeah, man, it’s sick, right? Charlie upgraded my systems, it’s bitchin’.” he reaches past Dean’s shoulder to give Charlie a fist bump (enthusiastically returned) and Dean backs off.
“Yeah, bitchin’,” Dean repeats with a grin. He’s too dumb for these people. But he sure is glad they’re on his side. “Well, hey, show me whatcha got.”
Ash nods and taps his temple. He mutters to himself and pulls the system toward him while Dean watches anxiously. Ash pauses and looks at him. “Dude. Gimme a second? This setup is a lil’ more complicated than your blackberry.”
Dean snorts and gives him space, followed by Charlie. “Dude. you’ve been dead too long. Blackberrys haven’t existed for like… ten years.”
Ash gives him a genial middle finger and Dean grins. Charlie sits up on the pool table and Dean leans against it next to her. “Listen, Charlie, I gotta. I gotta say sorry, again, for…” He clears his throat.
“Dying?” Charlie asks lightly.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Not your fault, Dean.” She shrugs, and she actually manages to look cheerful. Damn, Dean loves this chick. She puts her hand on his shoulder and shakes her head. “Seriously, Dean. Let it go! I have! Seriously, I got to spend a few years with my high school girlfriend watching Lord of the Rings - she was a cheerleader - and sneaking out to design some fucking world-altering programs with Ash! Being dead, for me, it’s kinda amazing.” She smiles at him. “Guessing you don’t feel the same though, huh?”
Dean swallows. He doesn’t know how much he wants to say about that, but being dead… it definitely sucks. And not in the good way. “Guess it just feels like I got more to do. Now, at least.” Now that Cas is… and heaven is…
Charlie looks like she doesn’t know what to say. Luckily, they’re interrupted before she has to think of something.
“Eyo! Sorry, amigos,” he leans over backwards to look at them. “Found it.”
Charlie jumps off the table and grabs Dean’s hand. After a few steps she shoves him with her shoulder until he bumps into Ash’s back. Dean bounces off his soft form and clears his throat. “Sorry,” he mutters, throwing a death glare back at his surrogate sister. She flashes him a smug grin before focusing back on the computer screen.
Ash recovers from getting jostled in time to point. “Yeah, so, we got word on Angel FM that this Jack kid is goin’ real Jim Jones over here.” He holds a finger up at several paragraphs as he’s flipping through them. “Preachin’ all kinda love and peace and hippy commune shit, but if somebody even questions it, he snaps. Naomi no-likey,” He smirks up at Dean and points to a group of cuss-words even Dean barely uses. “Rough translation.”
Dean shakes his head. “That doesn’t sound like Jack.” Jack, especially Jack-with-a-soul, almost never got mad. I mean, he’d spent quality time with Lucifer without blowing up. The kid is level-headed to a fault. “Anything else?”
Ash frowns at him. “Y’know, going through angels’ personal phone calls is a lotta work.”
Dean rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a genius. Got anything else?”
“Ash, what about the human rumors?”
Ash looks at Charlie and they have a silent battle of wills, but Dean’s too impatient to see who wins. “What human rumors?”
They pause and come to an agreement. “Fighting. People fighting. Couples. Families. Friends. All over, since the reboot. People are happy, but… it’s like earth. People can talk - people can fight.”
“And?” Dean raises his eyebrows. There’s something they’re not telling him, and he thinks he knows what.
Ash raises them right back. He’s not about to divulge. “Hombre, this ain’t earth. People are supposed to be happy. If they ain’t… like a glitch in the matrix, y’know?
Dean grunts. “Anything else weird on the radio? Anything at all.”
Ash’s sigh sounds labored. He leans back in his chair and wobbles, obviously sorting through all the enochian bullshit he’s read over the past… whenever. “Meh… I got… I don’t know, God was singing?”
“Singing? Singing what?” Dean leans in, intent. If it was Taylor Swift, Beyonce, maybe Lizzo…
Ash cocks an eyebrow. “Folk shit. Indie music.”
That’s what Dean was afraid of. “Shit.”
“Why? What does that mean?” Charlie grabs onto his arm.
Dean’s worst fears, that’s what. “It means that ain’t my kid. It’s Chuck.”
“Who the hell is that?” Ash stands up as Dean walks away, cursing every stupid atom that had decided to make this dumb universe. Although, he guesses, that was Chuck’s purview too.
“He’s god! God before the reboot I mean, the dick who up and left and only came back to screw me and Sam over. Fuck, I thought we’d finally gotten out from under his thumb! Now, apparently, he’s just using my kid for his meat-suit.” Dean takes a deep breath. This is bad. Worse than bad-bad.
“So… what do we do? How do we nuke God?” Charlie asks the question like it’s normal, just another Saturday afternoon.
Dean thumps his forehead onto the nearest table. Sure, sure, good, great. They were back to square fucking one. “I don’t fucking know,”
“Alright, break it down. We need more mojo, right? How do we get more mojo?”
“Well, angels are the next best thing, right? Maybe if we get them all together, they’re obviously not psyched about folk-God, or whatever,”
Ash points at her like she’s a genius. “Alright, yeah!”
“Guys, there aren’t enough angels left to even try.” Dean feels hopeless. There’s nothing to do. They are literally out of options. There’s no hope.
“Well, where can we get some more angels, then?”
Dean stands up. “I know a place.” His heart feels like it’s being squeezed like a lemon. It’s a crazy idea. It’s practically impossible. And probably suicide. And he’s gotta find a way. “We gotta break open the Empty.”
“The Empty?” Ash looks skeptical. Dean smirks.
“Yeah, angel/demon afterlife. We punch our way in there and we’ve got juice for days, man.” He spreads his arms out, asks the question.
Ash glances at Charlie then back at Dean. He sniffs and nods. “I’m in.”
Dean looks to Charlie, who scoffs. “Duh. Of course. So what, we get in and say pretty please help us kill your dad?”
A warm feeling spreads through Dean’s chest. “Well, we’ll have a little help on the inside. Cas.”
“Castiel? The angel dude?”
“He’s dead?” Charlie’s voice has much more concern than Ash’s. Dean nods in response to both questions. It still makes him feel like he’s swallowing glass to think about it. “What happened?”
Dean looks down at his boots. It’s only the scene that keeps playing on repeat behind his eyelids. Cas crying, holding onto his shoulder, telling him… telling him goodbye. Telling him that. “He saved me.” he starts, expression guarded. “He made a deal.”
Ash grunts and nods, ready to drop it. Charlie stays quiet too, but she clearly wants to say something. Dean’s thankful for the drop. He doesn’t know what he’d say if they asked more. All he knows is that he needs Cas back. And he needs to talk to him. He needs to tell him that - that he wants him to just stay fucking put, damn it. That he needs to stop dying on him. And that he can’t just go and say something like that and then leave. It’s a bitch-ass move.
“Yo, Deano?”
Dean jerks his head back up. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“How do we jail-break ‘em?”
“Guessing we’re gonna need some serious magic shit. And since we can’t get to Rowena…”
Ash breaks into a wide grin. “Pamela? I’ll give her a call.”
Pamela is “busy,” so they have to wait for her to finish up with Jesse before she can come by. Dean has to hand it to her, it’s just about the most Pamela thing in the world to put off their realms-saving work for a heavenly hookup. Dean hangs around talking for a bit, filling his friends in on the latest on Earth, but he can’t concentrate. Ever since they’d decided the next thing is to get into the Empty, he can’t relax. He takes his beer and goes outside to wait, settling down on the Roadhouse’s front step to watch for Pamela.
After a bit, Charlie plops down next to him, a soft grin on her lips. He returns it half-heartedly before looking out across the clearing. She leans her head against his shoulder. A few minutes pass in comfortable silence before she turns into him. “So we gotta get into the Empty.” she sighs. Dean nods glumly. Just his fucking luck. Even heaven is ruined. But at least… at least they’ve got a shot. “And get Castiel.”
Dean frowns and pulls away to look at her. Maybe it’s just his paranoia, but he hears some deeper meaning in her voice. “The guy died for me. I gotta,” he presses his lips together, hating himself for the half-lie he’s telling. Cas deserves better. Charlie just nods and watches, like she’s waiting for him to keep going. When he manages to talk again, his voice cracks. “We gotta get him, Charlie.”
Charlie pulls him into a side hug. “I always said he was dreamy, that angel.” She points out. Dean snorts. He remembers. He’d blushed like an idiot after she said that the first time.
“Yeah.” He mutters. Okay, so she knows. That he and Cas are… that Dean’s… good. Cas deserves recognition. He deserves someone to talk about him. For Dean to talk about him. But then Charlie just hasn’t spoken, and he feels like he needs some explanation. “I… there were other guys, before him.” He continues, clearing his throat. His mind wanders to Benny and Lee, Crowley. “But he’s… he’s it.”
He risks a look at Charlie and she is just staring at him with a fond smile. She surges forward and kisses his cheek, squealing. “Yes, I fucking knew it, you bisexual dumbass! Bi, right?”
Dean laughs. “Yeah, I guess- wait, you knew?”
Charlie looks around, like Dean’s a dumbass it was so obvious. “Well, yeah, dude. Game recognize game.” She motions between the two of them and he scoffs. That’s right. Gaydar. That would’ve been nice to have for the last, oh, 12 years? “We’ll get him back.”
Dean pulls Charlie in for another hug and leaves her tucked under his arm until a motorcycle pulls up and Pamela gets off, shaking her hair loose like a blind slow-motion model in a porno. She grins at the pair on the steps like she can see them. “Take a picture, you two. It’ll last longer.”
“How did you-”
She throws a hand out in dismissal. “Please, I can feel ogling from a mile away.” She pauses, laughing at the embarrassed silence Charlie and Dean are sporting. “Nah, I’m just joking. I do the hair-shake for a reason. I deserve a good stare. Hell, it’s half the reason I own this motorcycle.” She throws her helmet in the general direction of the motorcycle and greets her friends. Dean can’t decide whose hug is more flirty, his or Charlie’s.
“Alright, bitches. Let’s séance some shit.”
tag list: (ask or dm to be removed or added)
@dochunterwitch @justonecitizenoftheearth @gnbrules @purpe @castiel-is-a-cat @alienapparatus
#sunset sound#god is dead?#chapter 3#fanfic#deancas#destiel#my writing#dean winchester#castiel#charlie bradbury#pamela barnes#ash
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Game Master Akuma AU
(Note: Originally submitted to @justanotherpersonsuniverse, on their advice I will be using my own tumblr for anything in the future related to this AU.)
Xavier Duchamp was rather proud of himself. What he had before him was an absolute masterpiece of a campaign if he did say so himself. The product of over six months of study, research, and rebalancing efforts followed by two weeks of discussion with his five players to hash out schedules, meeting times, characters, backstories, potential character arcs, and getting them set up with a messaging app that was really good for sending discrete messages between the GM and the players.
Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he'd greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively.
Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item's stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia.
Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug.
Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt's history with characters dying) and he'd even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt's usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with.
Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history.
He'd put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He'd carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign.
In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he'd made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one.
Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn't need it anymore.
-----
It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app.
Matt/Chat - Chat's going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily.
Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I'd advise, but it's your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now.
Matt/Chat - <photo> 17
Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone's passive Perception easily. You'll sneak off handily without anyone noticing.
-----
"Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple."
"Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?"
Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt.
"19."
"Okay, difficult, but not undoable... Crap."
"What'd you get?"
"Nat 1..."
"Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!"
"Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!"
"Because it's payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish campaigns!"
"Oh, come on! You're not the only person whose had a character die at this table! Xavier runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they're always fair!"
"What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?"
"Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp."
"14!"
"Not much better, dude."
"Guys, it's fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-"
"Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece."
"The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound."
"So does Carapace."
"Vesperia too."
"-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you're all using the Dash action?, you've got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they're all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this."
"Rena screams 'What the HELL, Chat?! We're supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn't you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!'"
"Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!"
There was dead silence at the table.
"Matt... What... just... WHAT?!"
"Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe's on the other foot, huh?!"
"What the hell is your problem, Matt?!"
"My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I've spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!"
"Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!"
"I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY'RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!"
"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!"
"NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN'T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I'M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!"
"MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!"
"Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time..."
"It's going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least."
Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour.
He'd given so much to making sure this would work. He'd apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He'd agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he'd pull something like this.
He'd nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else's. They'd somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They'd meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening.
It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he'd slaved over for months was kaput.
He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it.
"Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things."
This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he'd ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel.
"Not enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts."
He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he'd spent so much time on to life... What creator could ever turn down an offer like that?
"I, the Game Master, accept... Hawkmoth."
"Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders."
"No."
Hawkmoth was silent for a moment.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself."
"If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you."
"No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me."
And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence.
-----
Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn't remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn't usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo.
Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her.
She looked up.
And up.
To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her.
"How's the weather down there?" Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique.
"I WILL END YOU!" the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up.
Characters:
Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew)
Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast)
-----
Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope.
She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn't for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she'd have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings.
Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she'd have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her.
"You know, people are staring..." she said as she craned her head to look at her companions.
"Let them," the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. "They're just jealous because their boyfriends can't carry them everywhere."
Characters:
Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout)
Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour)
Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
-----
Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin.
She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she?
And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor?
Characters:
Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party)
Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew)
-----
Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she'd freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she'd come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she'd gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable.
It might help more if she could figure out where she was.
Or find another person.
Characters:
Polymouse - Kobold (rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned)
-----
Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance.
"Are you quite done?"
"Almost!" Pigella's cheerful voice answered. "Your fur is so comfy!"
Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels.
"I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen' I will stick you in a bottle."
"Aw, I love you too! Hey, what's that?"
"I think it's my character sheet?"
Characters:
Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory)
Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned)
-----
"According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules," Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. "I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master."
"Aweshum," King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk's robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him.
"Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water."
"Gotta keep up appearanshes!" King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness.
Characters:
Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned)
King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master)
-----
Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he'd never felt before.
"Hmm... perhaps I can work with this..."
"Speak for yourself..." Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face.
Characters:
Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others.
Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters
-----
"Oh, come on!" A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. "Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can't I join them?"
"Because you're too OP. You'd completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure."
"But sitting around is no fun at all!"
"If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger."
"That's it?! I'm on 'mysterious hooded figure' duty? Boo! Why can't I fight with them?!"
"Because you're too OP. But if you insist, I'll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions."
"YES!"
"Five."
"I'm sorry?"
"I'll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information."
"That's it?"
"Yes. Choose your interventions wisely."
"So... if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle...?"
"Then I would allow you to join them of course."
"Score!"
Characters:
Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5)
Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign
-----
Addendum
When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it's basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back.
All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt's place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he has a similar playstyle to Matt, he's savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians.
They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.
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Ts general taglist: @whizzie72 @sapphire-knight @uhhh-ruh-roh-raggy @softanxiouspatton @royallyanxious @kim-argent-moon @lance-alt @suffering-is-my-comfort-zone @sometimeswritingsometimesdying @pushussmollworld @mylifeisadeceit @spooky-scary-virgil @angstyfanfiction @artissijam @logicalberry @pistachio-lan @roses-bubbles @princessnoodlebug @wolfie979-sideblog @gigitheimposter @murder-schmurder @punsandpodcasts @star-crossed-shipper @are-you-even--real (tell me if you want to be added or removed)
Word Count: 2,377
Characters: Roman, Virgil
Pairing(s): platonic Prinxiety (can be viewed as pre-romantic if that's your thing)
Warning(s): Self-deprecation, crying, angst, self-loathing, general emotional negativity, mild panic attack
Summary: Roman is clearly not okay. How about a song? Maybe three?
A/N: This was meant to be only a vent fic but I'm actually making it part of a series related to the events of SvS redux where Janus, Roman and Remus all visit Virgil's room for different reasons at different times. This is post-SvS redux, the prequel with Janus has already been posted. Yes, another one of those where Roman seeks comfort to Virgil. Enjoy! (All song lyrics borrowed from Virgil's playlist)
✾
Hell no.
Roman sank up in the all too familiar corridor, marching it down with heavy steps that would have formed holes on the floor if they had been just a little more massive.
The prickling in his eyes didn't matter, as the trembling of his hands counted more.
His eyes darted from a door to another as if he'd forgotten how they had been placed, ignoring his own in favour of probably the only person who would've lent him a chance to speak in that moment.
A knock then another and he was met with an uncharacteristically smiling face cornered by the trademark patchwork hoodie.
The smile faltered as Virgil processed Roman's expression.
« What did we say about repression and bottling up emotions? » that was an unusual conversation starter.
Something went definitely wrong.
« That it's … bad? It's bad. » Virgil had never been as good with words as Logan, but he could get to the point nonetheless.
« Right. So, » Roman's body seemed to be moving at light speed, mirroring how rapidly his mind was racing, how quickly he could respond. « You'll agree with me that, to prevent that, one must turn to someone else, maybe someone capable of understanding what might be going wrong. »
« A good point, I guess. »
« Indeed. Therefore if I just- » he pushed past Virgil and entered the room, quick and short steps reached the centre of it while Roman's arms opened wide as he turned back to look at Anxiety. « If I just- » his tone higher, the need to get everything out even stronger, his voice cracked and on the verge of shattering.
Virgil's concern rose, he slowly shut the door as he followed Roman's pacing with slightly wider eyes.
« If I just fucking lose it. For once. I don't know what to do anymore! Anything I do, I say anything goes wrong. I'm wrong! I'm never- » he recollected some breath, face now wet with tears. « What am I supposed to do anymore? »
Virgil mirrored everything that was opposite of Roman: mild breathing, soothing pacing, moving slowly around the room not to strengthen the other's panic.
Roman was now leaning against furniture, so Virgil reached the office chair and pulled it towards them, sitting with his chest against the back of the seat.
He looked up at Roman, careful. « What makes you say that? »
Virgil knew that type of attitude, the way your brain has a breakdown after way too many contradictions, way too many reloads and discrepancies.
It was already too late, Roman's mind went through the scenes again, which made him sob and cry even more while hearing everything they'd told him that day and before. He fell down and his face was buried in his hands.
Virgil slowly got up, careful not to make startling sounds, and reached the other, sitting next to him, but still giving him space. He tried to maintain his own tranquility so Roman wouldn't have to be around further distressing energy.
He started off with a barely audible tune which transformed into words. « As I walk through the streets of my new city, my back feeling much better, I suppose I've reclaimed the use of my imagination. For better or for worse, I've yet to know. » he tentatively put a hand on Roman's back, paying attention to his reaction and trying to console him when he noticed it didn't bother him.
« But I always knew you'd be the one to understand me, I guess that's why it took so long to get things right. » Virgil let a small smile creep on his face, remembering how much they used to bicker in the past, even though it hurt most times. « Suddenly I'm lost on my street, on my block. Oh why, oh why- »
Roman finally joined his singing, feeling the words fit him so much to let him vent that way. « Oh why haven't you been there for me? Can't you see, I'm losing my mind this time? This time I think it's for real, I can see … »
« All the tree tops turning red. The beggars near bodegas grin at me, I think they want something. I close my eyes, I tell myself to breathe. » their tone was much softer than the original song. Virgil had taken a small pause to breathe for real. « And be … calm. Be calm. » he turned to directly look at Roman. « I know you feel like you are breaking down. Oh I know that it gets so hard sometimes. » he watched as Roman tried to progressively stop crying. « Be calm. »
« Take it from me, I've been there a thousand times. » Virgil continued, softer than in the original song. « You hate your pulse because it still thinks you're alive. And everything's wrong, it just gets so hard sometimes. Be calm. »
He heard the other's breathing ease. It was working, so Virgil kept singing to make him comfortable.
« Hey. Don't write yourself off yet. It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on. Just try your best, try everything you can. » he was looking ahead of himself, but he was sure Roman was listening. « And don't you worry what they tell themselves when you're away. »
Roman still had his head buried in his knees, so he slightly looked up at turned to the side.
« It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride, everything, everything will be just fine. Everything, everything will be all right. »
Virgil was resting his arm around Roman's shoulder now, finding him much more relaxed.
« Live right now, just be yourself. It doesn't matter if that's good enough for someone else. » he sang quietly.
Roman moved an arm and suddenly Anxiety's room changed and they were sitting against a tree at night up on a hill, while they watched the silent city in the distance with its flickering lights that matched the stars.
The wind was howling so nicely that it simply turned into a gentle breeze, tickling their skin with a touch of coldness.
Virgil resonated that it could have been a safe space for Roman, so he kept singing until the other felt ready to talk or didn't need anymore reassurance.
« Tell me that you're alright, that everything is alright. »
He still had his arm around the other's shoulders.
« Please tell me that you're alright, that everything is alright. »
As he sang, he moved his hand and ran it through Roman's hair instead.
« I'm sick of the things I do when I'm nervous like cleaning the oven or checking my tires. »
Roman joined him for real this time. « Or counting the number of tiles in the ceiling ... »
« Head for the hills, the kitchen's on fire. »
Creativity let a tiny smile on his face, so Virgil carried on with confidence. « I used to rely on self-medication, I guess I still do that from time to time. But I'm getting better at fighting the future. Someday you'll be fine. »
« Yes, I'll be just fine. » Roman got closer to the other, resting his head on Virgil's shoulder for more comfort.
They started singing the chorus together and ended up in a giggling mess, but when it all died down, Roman sighed heavily and the illusion fell, taking them back to Virgil's room.
There was a beat of silence.
« In the courtroom. Remember how every single one of you kept going against me for wanting to hear that snake out? »
Anxiety nodded. There was no lie in that, but the premise already told him where that was going.
« So I made up my mind, right? I listened to all of your reasoning, I did my best to understand, to put my pride and dreams aside to please you. I tried to convince myself that it was the best for Thomas when my guts kept telling me how wrong I was. »
Roman watched the other tilt his head without losing focus.
« I brushed aside my dread during the wedding day. I changed my mind on everything I was settled on during that day. Only for what? Seeing everybody doing a big U-turn and leaving me in my own confusion. »
« A u-turn? » Virgil raised an eyebrow, clearly unaware of the events that had just occurred.
« Magically now both Patton and Thomas, and I suppose also Logan, are in favour of that slimy guy's ideals. Now. Only now that everything is all gone and lost already. Now that I can't go back in time, now that it's too late for anything! »
He had thought he was done with tears. « So it ended up my longing for the callback was a better choice and I wasn't being selfish? What do I even do with it? It's as useful as a get well soon card for when you get an indelible scar. »
« They sided with Deceit? » Virgil wasn't quite sure he had heard correctly.
Though … his conversation with him earlier …
« Blindly, almost with no opposition. And I can't believe any direction I follow, everybody turns around and leaves me walking by myself. » Roman curled up on himself more, arms around his chest. « Alone in the wrong spotlight. » he mumbled, side eyeing the drawer next to him.
Virgil fidgeted with the hem of his hoodie, considering the ever too familiar situation.
He extended an arm towards him, uncharacteristically determined. « Come here. »
A pair of eyes looked up at Virgil unsure, only to accept his help and end up sitting on the bed, opposite to him.
« I know how it feels. Deep confusion, you don't know what's right or wrong anymore and you feel like anywhere you go, you'll crash into a wall and someone will end up hurt. You, most likely. »
Virgil refrained from making eye-contact.
« And it hurts, it hurts like hell cause the ones that are going against you are the ones you love and that you believe that love you as well. That's where the doubts start and then you spiral. »
Roman found his reasoning so accurate it hit him like a sharp sudden pain in his heart.
« But you know what? »
He raised his head.
« I'm glad you didn't bottle it up this time. Because if you did … I don't know, I'm just happy you haven't fought with anyone. »
That was when he raised an eyebrow: he heard Virgil's voice shift towards the end, in a sort of understood thing, an unspoken truth Virgil didn't want to uncover.
Maybe they really were alike under all those layers of sarcasm.
« And that- that wouldn't have been nice at all. » Roman had also noticed how the conversation was stalling on that particular, as if the other weren't able to move on from that topic and now his mind was clouded by that argument only.
« You … » Roman encouraged the best he could. « Well, yeah. It's pretty obvious you had a fight with them. Right? »
Virgil shook his head to brush off the topic. « Gosh, I'm sorry. I was trying to help you and yet I made my own issues surface. »
« It's okay, we're all a bit broken. » Roman tentatively stretched his arm and put a hand on his back.
The other turned to him and showed a small smile. « See, that's what I admire of you. Even while distressed you still try to sympathize with others. » there was a pause. « I would probably yell at everyone like when someone insists on talking before an hour of being awake. »
Neither of them could escape laughter, a little heartfelt moment in a dark alley.
« Back to you, anyway. » Virgil waved his hand as if to physically brush the topic away. « I believe the reason why this mess has happened is because everyone's pretty confused. We've been touching a complicated ground and it's only logical we make mistakes. »
« The thing is, Roman, you care a lot about Thomas and it shows. You want to make sure he's going to be happy about the kind of life he pursues. » he looked him in the eyes. « You're not doing anything wrong. Rather, you're doing your best. »
Roman bit his lip and he nodded, his eyes sliding down to the floor.
« In the long run, I'm sure it's gonna be fine. And if Thomas will ever end up in the bad zone, we'll find a way to get him out of here, okay? »
Creativity exhaled deeply and felt the tangle in his stomach slowly dissipate.
« Thank you, Virgil. »
Anxiety relaxed as he watched Roman's features soften. « Don't mention it. »
Roman stood up, brushing his hands on his face like he had been washing it with imaginary water.
« I guess I'll try and let off some steam in the Imagination. » he made to head for the door, when he stopped dead in his tracks.
« Fuck. »
Virgil's heart sunk, expecting further complexes. « What's wrong? »
« I forgot to ask if you were stable enough to endure a vent moment. »
But then, of course, another smile made its way on his face. « Nah, I had been playing stupid video games until ten minutes ago. Don't worry big guy, go fight the dragon witch. »
Roman huffed as he crossed the hallway again. « I've defeated her eons ago, let me live it down! »
Snickering accompanied the echo of his voice and Virgil's smile only faltered some seconds after.
Yeah, maybe they were all a little bit broken. Maybe he was still holding grudges he thought he didn't care about anymore.
But, then again, maybe everything was going to be alright either way.
#purp's writings#virgil sanders#roman sanders#ts virgil#ts roman#sanders sides#fanfiction#ts fanfic#platonic prinxiety#read the warnings#angst#hurt/comfort
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Puppets - XXXV - Liar
Russia sits back and gazes around the hallways, staring into swirling darkness. He eventually has to look away because of the illusions his eyes begin to create in the shadows. His leg still stings but is much less inflamed and painful than it had been. He tilts his head back and almost dozes off. He still hears the others around him but doesn't react and feels too tired to move.
He only opens an eye when he hears America call his name. Scanning the others, he sees that they have fallen asleep. Most of them are slumped against the wall or each other. Texas is sprawled across the floor, reminding Russia of nights he had passed out drunk in his room.
"Hmm?"
"Why did you bring them with you?"
"They wanted to come," Russia grumbles. He sits up against the wall. America stands and moves over, sitting next to Russia. He continues speaking, his voice low.
"But that puts them in danger!" he hisses.
Russia rolls his eyes and yawns. "As if you did not do that yourself."
"Russia, that's different, and you know it."
"How? You put yourself in danger to save the states. We put ourselves in danger to save you."
"No, you don't get it! Aahhh...."
Russia will admit he isn't surprised by the scolding, but he is startled by the sudden cry of pain.
"Are you okay?!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Listen, that's not the point."
"But you are hurt. Did one of them get you?"
"Wha- no! Listen, Russ, I'm fine."
"No, you are not. Show me."
"I... fine. F***in' fine!" America hisses. He glares at Russia, but Russia doesn't back down. America scoffs.
"America..."
"Okay, okay.."
America pulls up his shirt and brings the light close to his stomach. There is a jagged scar that spans most of his midsection. It reminds Russia of the scars he has from past violence on his land. But America's looked angry. It is a bright pink with red splotches surrounding it. Russia reaches out to touch it but pulls his hand back once he recognizes what he's doing.
"Are you sure you are alright?"
"I'm just experiencing some civil unrest. I'll be fine."
"...are you in pain?"
America looks away and drops his shirt. The cloth falls and covers the scar. Russia stares quietly, trying to will an answer out of America. America bits his lip and sighs.
"Yeah... It's not the first time, though, so it's nothing to worry about."
"I disagree. Do the states know?"
"No. I don't want them to worry about me."
Russia sighs and rubs his face.
"They worry for you now. You look tired, and shouts of pain do not help your image of being fine, America."
America scoffs. Russia sighs.
"Have you slept since being here?"
"It doesn't matter."
"You can not function without sleep for very long."
"Can you stop lecturing me, you stupid drunkard?!"
"I am trying to help."
"I don't CARE!"
Russia sighs. He turns away and closes his eyes.
"Russ?"
Russia decides to ignore America's mumbling. He may not be able to sleep but pretending to works well enough to avoid talking to America for the time being.
"Russia... god f***ing d*** it! ...I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"..."
"Russia, please?"
America's tone turns Russia's head.
"What?"
"God, I'm sorry, Russ. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. You were only trying to help."
Russia sighs and shifts to face America. America holds out a dull blue light in one hand and his face in the other.
"I'm so f***ing sorry, Russia. I've been so worried about the others that I got upset, but I shouldn't have taken that out on you."
"It is okay. I have been called worse things by Ukraine anyway."
America chuckles.
"Listen, Russ. I'm okay, really. The pain only comes and goes."
"You will tell me if that changes."
"Fine, but only you."
Russia nods and gives America a grin. America smiles back. Out of the corner of his vision, Russia sees a small red light high in the darkness. He whips his head around and spots a little red light blinking high on the wall. He stares at it, and it flashes back.
"We're being watched."
"What are you talking about?"
"Look," Russia says, pointing up to the little red light.
"Oh, for f*** sake," America mutters into his hand.
"Tex?"
"G'mornin'. What's goin' on?"
"There is another camera. Could you throw something at it?"
"A'course. Hold on."
Texas rubs his face and stands. He still has a clear preference for his uninjured arm but doesn't seem to be in as much pain as before, which relieves Russia. Texas stands and kicks around for a second before finding a baseball-sized rock. He picks it up, tosses it in his hand, reels back, and launches it at the camera. The camera shatters with an earsplitting crack. The others shoot awake.
"Will you please stop breaking the cameras!" an unfamiliar voice echos through the corridor. It sounds vaguely Italian. Russia's hair stands on end.
"Who the f*** are you?!" America exclaims.
"The one responsible for replacing them."
"That is not what I meant."
"I know, I just don't care."
"Darn, this guy's worse than Mass."
"Texas, shut up."
"Hush," Finland interrupts, "how are you able to talk to us?"
"Magic."
America jumps to his feet and scowls. The blue light begins to flicker. Russia stands and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Meri, the light."
America takes a deep breath and steadies his magic. Russia nods and removes his hand.
"You have a different voice than before. Is that also magic?" Philippines asks.
The voice laughs loudly. "Like I would ever want to sound like him."
Russia tunes out the rest of the conversation turned yelling match. His mind spins, trying to rationalize the situation. Why was this voice different? Was the first one a trick? Where is all this magic coming from? If they could see with magic, why have the cameras?
His eyes go wide, and his breathing seized when an idea hits him.
"Russ?"
"Stop talking."
"What?"
"Now," Russia demands. The group goes quiet. Finland scowls but doesn't argue.
"What did you find, little Russian?"
"How many people are involved in this?"
"Oh! As if you would be allowed to know."
Russia flashes his teeth in a snarl before calming himself. He turns to a wide-eyed America. America narrows his eyes and nods in understanding. They step forward with Canada, blocking the states from the rest of the darkness around them. Russia throws his head over his shoulder.
"Don't speak to him," Russia hisses.
"Why not?" Texas complains.
"Shh!"
Texas rolls his eyes. Finland sighs.
"Hush, star eyes. Don't you understand what's going on?" she mutters.
"Wha?"
"If there is more than one person involved, who knows how many of those f***ers there are," Massachusetts mumbles.
Texas' eyes go wide, and he stares at Massachusetts before turning back to Finland with a slack jaw. Massachusetts scoffs.
"I should have known. The amount of magic being used... It had to have been channeled," he mumbles.
Silence fills the hollows. Russia notes the distinct lack of magic in the air.
"This is bad. This is very bad," America mumbles, running his hand through his hair, his face noticeably paler.
"Meri?"
"I think I need to sit down."
Russia guilds America back to the wall, and America all but falls to the floor in a daze.
"Oh, god. We are in such deep s***," America mumbles, rubbing his face.
"Pops? Whatchu goin' about?" Louisiana asks.
"This has to be a group of people! How big is it? How many other locations could they have? How long were they watching us? Are the other states okay?!"
"America, you have to calm down. Panicking won't help anyone, eh?"
"But Canada, what am I going to do?!"
"First, you must recognize you have help now, papa."
America stares at Philippines for a moment and looks up. His eyes meet Russia's, and they lock gazes for a moment. Canada offers his hand, and America takes it. Canada pulls him up into a hug.
"We're going to be alright. We have to think about how we are going to get out of here, not panic."
America sighs. He weakly hugs his brother and leans against him.
"Pops, you look exhausted. I can handle producin' light for a little while."
"I..."
Russia shoots him a look, and America relents.
"Okay, but don't use it too much."
A purple glow fills the area, and the light blue fades soon after. As soon as he releases his magic, America slumps against Canada, almost knocking him over.
"Whoa! Are you okay?!" Canada exclaims.
"Yeah. I'm just a little tired."
"This is more than a little tired. Can you walk?"
"I think so."
America releases Canada and stumbles to his feet. As soon as he finds his balance, he flashes a thumbs up and a goofy smile.
"We should move. Staying in one place attracted ugly things," Finland suggests. Russia reluctantly agrees. Massachusetts shuffles forward with his head down just behind America, and Russia limps closely behind.
Russia wonders what kind of force they are fighting against, but somehow doesn't regret coming to save America. He probably should not have brought the states, but knows that he would feel a lot worse had he stayed at the Big House and done nothing. Now it is time to see where that decision leads.
~
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hey, i saw you write for tdp, could i request a soren x reader imagine where reader is a half-elf or something like that? please make reader gender neutral if you can
Omg, my first request! I love this idea, there are not enough Soren imagines, and of course I'll make it gender neutral! I hope you like it! It's a bit long because I had to put some context in it, much love <3
•••
Uncovered Secrets (Soren x Reader)
Warnings: Mentions of death
Genre: Angst, a lil bit of fluff.
Fandom: The Dragon Prince
Summary: See request
Word Count: 1978
part 2
I've always had to hide myself from everyone. I had to learn from a young age how to do it. I've always been told how, when I was a baby, I was found at the border and given to my father after saying he would take care of me, and he has ever since. I'm a hybrid, half Moonshadow Elf and half human, so I had to learn as soon as possible how to do magic in order to create illusions to hide my appearance. I remember when I first did it at the age of ten, I was so happy, all those years of covering my head and half of my face were over, I didn't even have to paint my eyebrows anymore; I could finally be normal and treated like any other human in Katolis.
Life from that moment really changed for me. My father was a respected general so I'd always lived in the castle, but I started hanging out with the other kids, Prince Callum and Lord Viren's children. We quickly became inseparable and did pretty much everything together. I think it's safe to say that everyone knew about my special friendship with Soren. I don't know why, but we just understood each other even from a young age, and it only got stronger as the years passed. He was always there for me as I was there for him, he'd helped me a lot when my father passed away and I trusted him with my life, we knew everything about each other... except for what I really was. I thought about telling him a couple times but I knew it was wrong, and I knew how much humans hated elves, even Soren. But this was the life I had, I was destined to hide from the people I cared about the most. Or at least, that was until Rayla appeared in our lives.
The two Princes, Rayla and I discovered that the egg of the dragon prince hadn't been destroyed, and we were going to take it home to its mother. During our trip, I decided to tell them the truth, if Rayla had been accepted as our friend then there was no reason to fear anymore. Thankfully, I was right, nothing changed between us and I even stopped using magic to hide my true appearance. It was weird but at the same time it felt right, it was freeing.
We've been staying with Lujanne for a few days now, enjoying the little dragon's company and giving ourselves a little break. Rayla and I knew we had to go, though, but the Princes weren't very interested on leaving yet, so we agreed to stay one more day. Everything seemed fine but the elven girl and I felt a bit unsafe, so we decided to take turns and keep guard in case something or someone decided to appear.
It was my turn to keep guard so I was looking for Rayla to replace her but when I found her she was lying on the ground, surrounded by two people. I prepared myself to attack, thanking my father for all those sword and combat lessons he'd make me take, I wouldn't let them hurt her.
"Get away from her!" I yelled as I approached them, but I stopped when I realized who they were. Soren and Claudia were standing a few feet away from me and it felt like I hadn't seen them in a lifetime.
"Oh, great, another elf?" Soren said. "So what, there's like a whole other group of you?" I could sense the hatred and disgust in his voice. He didn't recognize me, neither of them did. Before I could say or do something, Rayla woke up and took them by surprise.
She started fighting with Soren and I got out of my trance only when Callum showed up, trying to calm everyone down. He was happy to see them and I would've been too, but I just couldn't believe what had happened.
"She kidnapped you and Prince Ezran, how can she be good?" asked Claudia about Rayla. "And it seems like she didn't act alone because there's another one of them too!".
"No, wait! There was no kidnapping, Claudia. We went with her by choice" explained the older Prince. "And what do you mean by 'another one of them'?"
"Well, what does that mean then?" said Soren, pointing at me. Hearing him speak about me like that was the worst thing I could've ever imagined.
"That is (Y/N)" answered Rayla, clearly annoyed at the blonde boy.
"What do you mean? (Y/N)'s hair is not white and they don't have horns, or pointy ears, or those weird things under their eyes! Stop lying!"
"Soren, she's right. It's me" as soon as I said that I used my magic to change how I looked, going back to how they knew me. "I'm a hybrid, I've been using magic ever since I was ten to blend in".
I could tell he was shocked and he opened his mouth to say something but the words never came out.
"Listen, guys, it's late. Let's just get some rest and cool off, okay?" We all agreed to Callum's words and went back with the others but I could tell there was a thick tension in the air. And that tension stayed there until we all went to bed.
When we woke up, we had breakfast together and I started using my magic again, at least when Claudia and Soren were around, I already knew what they thought of me and I didn't want to put up with their looks too. I spent all day learning some magic with Lujanne, it was nice to learn from an actual mage and it didn't hurt to get my mind off some things for a while.
When I was done for the day and ready to go to bed, I heard someone knocking the door.
"Come in" I said loudly.
"You'll never guess what happened today, (Y/N)" said Rayla as she entered the room, we had become good friends in the last couple days and it felt nice to have someone kind of like me around. She told me about what Soren had done earlier that day, and about how she tried to talk to Callum but he didn't pay any attention to her. "And I just talked to Lujanne because maybe she would help me and I realized that the only way for them to completely trust me is by telling them the truth, even if it hurts them".
"The truth? What do you mean, Rayla?"
"This is not easy to say but... Their father is dead and I've been wanting to tell Callum but I just don't know how to and I-"
"Hey, Rayla. It's okay, you're just trying to protect them, I'm sure they will understand. We're friends, remember?" I interrupted her, trying to clam her down. She let out a deep breath and nodded with her head. "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course, (Y/N). We're friends, remember?" she said, repeating my words. I smiled weakly before continuing.
"I'm not totally surprised about what you said about Soren, not after how he reacted with me at least. And you know what's the worst part? I'm sure that his father is behind what happened earlier today. I know him but he just needs Viren's approval, you know? And it hurts, a lot actually. I just hope he realizes there are people who truly care about him before it's too late".
"You like him, don't you?" I opened my eyes at her words, trying to deny it but all she did was smile. "You're not very good at hiding it, (Y/N)".
"I guess I'm not. I just hope that deep down you are wrong and that they both realize that what they're trying to do is wrong".
"I hope so, too" she hugged me tight, wrapping her arms around my neck. "It's late, I think I'm gonna go to bed" she said as she started heading towards the door to go to her room.
"Go, I'll stay up a bit longer".
And suddenly that 'bit longer' turned into at least two hours. I couldn't sleep, I just kept thinking about Soren and his attitude. I decided to get out of my room and go to the Moon Nexus, if I was going to stay awake thinking about things at least I would have a nice view while doing it.
I was standing against the edge when I heard someone coming. I started hiding my true appearance out of instinct but was interrupted in the middle of the act.
"You don't have to do that". Soren's voice sounded loud in contrast to the silence of the night. I stopped using my magic and he came to my side. "Can't sleep?"
"Yeah... What made you change your mind?" He stood there looking confused, not understanding what I was talking about. "Yesterday you didn't even recognize me without the illusion and even looked disgusted at the sight of me. What's changed?"
"I noticed you hide your elf-like features when I'm around, but I've never seen you being more you than when you stop hiding" I looked at him confused, I thought I'd made sure to use my magic whenever he was around. I could tell he saw how disconcerted I was. "I saw you practicing your magic earlier today and then playing with the kids. I've never seen you so... Happy and free".
There was a brief silence between us until I broke it.
"That's because I've never truly felt like that, until I stopped hiding".
"I'm sorry for acting like that yesterday, I was a fool. And I think you look really cute like this".
"So you don't hate me?"
"How could I ever hate you? You're the most important thing in my life, (Y/N)".
I smiled at his words and turned my gaze to the water underneath us. I looked into his eyes again and we started getting closer and closer, but just when our lips where about to touch, I backed off.
"I'm sorry but I really need to ask you something. Why did you lie to the boys earlier, saying that King Harrow missed them?" he looked confused and a little bit scared.
"W-What to you mean?"
"There's no way you hadn't known that he was dead, you literally are a Crown Guard, Soren. So just tell me why you did it, please".
Again, there was silence, but this time it was tense and extremely awkward.
"I-I'm sorry but-"
"But what? You can't tell me? Why? Because it would ruin whatever plan your father has regarding the Princes?" I stopped to look at him but he was avoiding my eyes. "Because you don't want to admit that it was a strategy to be able to kill the boys a lot easier by making them trust you?" I said, remembering what Rayla had told me before about the zip line.
He just stood there, now a few feet apart from me and I could se how surprised he was, but I also could see something else, that I was right about my assumptions.
"You don't understand, (Y/N), I-"
"Oh, no, Soren. I think I understand really well".
As soon as I said that I left, going back to my room with tears running down my face, and ignoring Soren's voice calling for me. How could he even think about doing that? How would I tell the Princes? Would I even tell them at all or would I just try to keep them safe without destroying the image they had about his so-called friend? I had so many questions and not even one answer. I only knew that Rayla wasn't wrong at all.
•••
Oh, boy, this took a long time to write. I was thinking about doing a part 2 but I'm not sure about it.
-Mica :)
#soren x reader#the dragon prince fic#the dragon prince#soren fic#soren fanfic#soren tdp#soren imagine#soren the dragon prince#the dragon prince imagines#tdp imagines#tdp x reader
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The Royal Report– A Crown of Candy Ep 14 Encounter in the Ice Cream Temple
We All Scream
We return to the Ice Cream Temple after the absolute bombshell that the SPF engineered Jet’s death as a way to get the Candians to her lair and gear up for the fight that that revelation obviously triggered. We get a better idea of the battlefield with the amazing Rick Perry set--like even by his standards it’s amazing, fog is involved. The party is on a ledge on one side of the room and there are huge levitating Popsicles and ice cream cones between them and a massive tower of frozen desserts which has the chocolate egg stuck in it in a little alcove.
As the fight begins, the SPF quickly cycles through all her glamours before revealing her true form, a huge, blue/purple, many-faced, many-winged, angelic type being--but angel in the, “We’re saying ‘be not afraid’ not as a formality but because we know we look scary,” sense. And with a Nat 20 initiative she goes to cast something in a cone that would have hit everyone for 8d8 damage but Rina dispels it with a clutch 5th level Counterspell (rolling exactly the DC without even adding her mod), absolutely foiling Brennan. In celebration, she finally puts the crown on Amethar tossed to her a couple of eps back.
Cumulus does some crazy monk movement to jump all the way across to the alcove with the egg. Unfortunately, the SPF immediately uses a legendary action to hit him with with a Ray of Frost for 27 damage and then gets a lair action to skewer him with an icicle, fully dropping him to death saves. The one small mercy is that Cumulus falls towards the egg, not into the mist.
Liam takes some shots at the SPF, and learns that she has both a really high AC and some kind of Mirror Image spell going to take some of her hits. He also eats the Peppermint Heart Seed the SPF returned to them, hoping it will give him flight like it did to Preston (almost jumping off the ledge to test it) but Brennan rolls on the Wild Magic Table and it instead makes the entire party Invisible.
Ruby (at Brennan’s mischievous suggestion) jumps off the edge so she’ll be in range to use Mage Hand, ties it to the end of the rope to the closest floating Popsicles (the orange one), and hangs on. In the distance, she can hear her aunts cheering for her. The SPF blasts her with some cold damage, insisting she just wants to take her somewhere safe but Ruby is having none of that.
Amethar throws some javelins which just gets rid of some of the illusions. The SPF does some more damage to Ruby.
Theo, student of Lazuli, realizes that the SPF is like a dragon sitting atop all this magical treasure but she’s not the source of the magic per se and they should be able to get the floating Popsicles to move at their command. He tells everyone and then holds his turn to see if Rina does anything crazy. Rina Thundersteps herself and Theo to the Popsicle Ruby is hanging onto and uses Winterscoop like an oar to try and move it (DC 10 Wis check w/ advantage--Brennan’s one small mercy). She gets it and yells to her guys to jump onto the other Popsicle (the red one) but they aren’t able to move it. With the rest of his held turn, Theo cast Protection From Evil and Good on Rina.
The SPF tries to blast Rina’s group with another cone attack but Rina stops it cold (ha) with another Counterspell, viably breaking Brennan.
Cumulus fails a death save. Theo takes some cold damage which he lessens with Absorb Elements. Then the SPF casts a spell on Ruby, entering her mind and saying, “You came to me in the glade. Wherever you go, I go.” And she hears a scream from Jet as the SPF begins stitching her own shadow to Ruby. (Spooky, hate that!)
Liam jumps on the red Popsicle and attacks the SPF again, getting rid of the last of her protective illusion.
Ruby swings up to where Cumulus and the egg is. She the rope to Cumulus and pushes him off the edge (Zac’s Face: *Immediate Concern*) so they can pull him up and help him. She also does an Insight check on the egg and feels that the outside is cold but there’s a deep rumbling from within.
Amethar jumps onto the red Popsicle and is finally able to move it. He gets closer to the SPF to throw some javelins and gets a hit this time but, unfortunately, as the SPF is hit, an identical wound dealing half damage appears on Ruby. Ruby yells this info to everyone else.
Theo again delays his action to wait for Rina to act. Rina Healing Word’s Cumulus both because he’s down and to boost her movement by ten (she gets that free 10 feet of Fly when she casts a spell) and she uses that movement to get within range of the egg and cast Bonfire (a cantrip) on the egg (Ruby insisting she could have done it without help). Brennan, womped thrice, needs a 12 or higher on 2d8 to damage the egg. Rina gets a 13 on the dice without having to even do any Sorcery shenanigans.
The egg cracks, releasing hot steam, the smell of cinnamon and the most ADORABLE baby dragon that imprints on Rina immediately. Rina coos that she finally has a family.”
“That is mine,” the SPF says.
“Not anymore,” Rina replies.
Ruby’s Big Day
Jon Bon nails the SPF with a throwing ax, doing half damage to Ruby again.
The SPF does a ton of damage to the red Popsicle peeps and Swifty and Gooey look ROUGH.
Cumulus (after determining that the SPF connection with Ruby will fade soon) jumps and grapples the SPF, doing a successful Stunning Strike, but the SPF uses a legendary resistance to come out of stun and then attacks him, paralyzing him and leaving him to fall.
Ruby tries to figure out if she can do something and Rina says if she trusts her and holds her action, she can do something to help. But it’s not necessary because, on his turn, Liam hits the SPF with a crossbow bolt (Ruby takes no damage as the connection has faded) and then moves the Popsicle under where Cumulus is going to land. The SPF hits Liam for 25 points of damage, taking him down to 9.
Even though she doesn’t need it to save Cumulus anymore, Ruby still delays her turn to get movement help from Rina (reluctantly). Amethar catches Cumulus out of the air before he hits the Popsicle and then does almost 50 points of damage to the SPF with Payment Day now that he’s in melee range.
Theo moves the orange Popsicle closer to where the action is happening, Misty Steps to the floating ice cream cone between his Popsicle and the other one, then tries to boomerang his sword to hit the SPF, but it doesn’t hit.
Rina (slipping into a very Fig manner of speech for a second) asks Ruby, “You wanna go for a ride?” Ruby accepts and Rina (after telling Cinnamon--the newly christened dragon--to fly over to her when he has a chance) Thundersteps herself and Ruby over to the very crowded orange Popsicle with the SPF. She also casts Create Bonfire on the SPF which does double damage--24.
And Ruby decides to take her held turn.
She casts Green Flame Blade on Flickerish--Jet’s sword--and says, “For Jet, bitch.”
Yak flies over to give her advantage (and make this as cinematic as possible).
Nat 20 bay-bee!
So she’s getting extra dice from Green Flame Blade, Rogue Sneak Attack, Flickerish’s Superiority Dice, and the Nat 20. Siobhan is rolling a DM number of dice here and you truly love to see it.
Brennan, sensing that, writes a number on a folded piece of paper and hands it to her. The amount of HP the SPF has left. Then he has her roll in the Box of Doom. She lets those colorful dice fly and counts them up--while Brennan looks on with increasing consternation in the background.
59.
She opens the piece of paper.
52!
Ruby lands graceful, balancing with her circus training, shadow of Jet being cast tall on the wall of the cavern.
“Can’t you come home with me?” asks the SPF.
“Why don’t you come home with me?”
Ruby thrusts the sword forward and the SPF (who Brennan says was literally just about to use her 9th level spell slot to cast Wish and restore all her HP) is no more.
Cold Shoulder
Fight over, the mist begins to clear. They see the floor of the cavern is just magical items on magical items and Swifty is stoked as hell. The magic of this place goes from painfully freezing cold and sickly sweet to the good kind of crisp cold and welcoming availability.
Ruby in her ear hears 4 voices:
“Proud of you, kid.”
“You make it look effortless. I am so proud.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t know where we’re going next. It was nice to be here, but we’re gonna go somewhere we don’t know, but we’re gonna go there together.”
“I was fourth in line and I didn’t know that we were all gonna say something. They didn’t tell me.”
“Look after her please,” Ruby says.
“I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.”
Then she feels the embrace of her shadow and it returns to its place.
(“I love you so much. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”)
Rina says to Ruby that she could have finished off the SPF herself but she wanted to let her have the killing blow because it clearly meant a lot to her. She doesn’t know if that will mean anything to her now and she feels that maybe she’s wasting her time continually trying to reach out to her but maybe, someday, it will get through to her.
Rina’s guys escort her away and she can tell that Gooey has something on her mind. Rina gives her permission to speak freely and Gooey (with Swifty and Jon Bon chiming in) basically says, “Fuck the Candians. They treat you like shit. We’re your real family. You’re gonna be a dope ass queen.”
“You know, it’s funny. That’s the first time someone has called me queen and it hasn’t felt uncomfortable. It actually felt really good.”
Ruby takes another moment of silence for Jet. Theo says that it was always Jet’s dream to be fighting with and for the common people which is Rina’s whole thing. They should be rallying behind her. Ruby and Amethar never even wanted to rule--now he gets to be a warrior again like he wanted. Amethar shoots back with his perspective on the last 4 weeks: his daughter died, he died twice, he decided he was gonna finally man up and bam, it turns out he’s not even king anymore. So excuse him for not being the most gung ho person in the world.
Theo says that he trusts that Amethar is on board but Rina doesn’t know him. From her POV, this is just unprovoked shunning.
“You have two living daughters.”
Ruby goes to talk to Rina and, on a Nat 20 Insight, sees that all her guys are fully ready to remorselessly kill her if given the order. Still, she presses on, laying out her cards: Her entire worldview has imploded in a matter of weeks. Her twin sister just died. She’s going through so much and now this too? She can’t accept Rina as both her sister and her queen. She has to pick one.
“I understand that you lost everything,” Rina says, “but I was born with nothing.” She says that she was actually very excited to meet Ruby and have a sister and finally not be alone anymore, tears cracking through her cold facade for a moment. But then she gathers herself.
“If I must choose, then I choose to be your queen.”
“Very well.”
Rina and her crew exit the Temple and start down the mountain. Everyone except for Liam follows them. Liam goes to check on the hoard and rolls a 24 Investigation check. At the base of the tower he sees an old lair with ancient chocolate eggshells. He knows this is the dark space from his dreams and he knows this was once a dragon lair. At the center of the nest (which is still somehow warm), there’s a little ember that glows brighter as he approaches. It grows red and bright, filling his vision, a hand reaches out, grabs his throat and pulls and we end the ep!
Medal of Honor
Killing a god should be enough to get anyone this spot.
But killing a god with only a 7 point margin on a Nat 20 in order to avenger your sister’s death with her own sword a turn before said god was about to down a Full Restore?
Ooh, man. All hail Princess Ruby Rocks baby!
Things I’m Concerned About
OK, I mentioned last week I was worried about Rina doing a Cat's in the Cradle but I said I’d elaborate later and what I feared seems to be materializing so I’m going to talk about it now. Rina clearly had a certain vision of what she wanted this family reunion to look like and, for valid reasons, it’s not happening that way. They’re not really bonding. So what this ends up being is them relying on her in battle but brushing her off socially--at least that’s what it looks like from her POV. And like, she’s been around for like 2 days so it’s kind of unreasonable for her to expect them to be fully on board already but I see where she’s coming from. If I grew up as basically a Dickensian orphan and a princess told me a sob story (however valid) I wouldn’t be impressed. It would be a complicated situation even without a war happening in the background. On top of that, Rina is surrounded by Yes-Men which concerned me from the start when Gooey pulled her aside that first time. The last time we had the potential for serious party conflict in D20 (not counting Bloodkeep because I maintain that, despite the setup and Brennan’s best efforts, that was never going to happen) was the Kingston/Pete situation and that ended up fizzling out but idk man. That conversation Rina had about how it felt kinda nice to be called queen? That def set off some alarm bells in my head. I don’t know enough about GoT to know if this is a totally valid statement but when she got the dragon and then that convo happened I was like...hmm...how does Dany’s story end again?
Lol also, whatever the heck is going on with Liam and the dragon. Really this should be first but, I’m gonna be real, the Rina thing was so much that I fully forgot this was a thing that also happened.
I’m concerned about whatever happens next ep that was so bad they’ve been talking about it for ages. Feeling pretty trepid about that my guys.
We haven’t heard from Annabelle and Primsy in a while and that doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad but...hmm...
Five A Few More Things
Ah yes, the return of the, “Why can’t a butterscotch bird help me perform first aid?” argument. “Are you telling me a bird can’t save someone’s life?”
“Give me the child.” Brennan, I know I say this a lot but if anything happens to Cinnamon...a single thing...a solitary hitpoint...Brennan…
There's a bit where Cumulus rolls like a 9 and Ally goes, “Can he get advantage from the egg?” And Siobhan makes a face like, “Fully what?” but then a second later is like, “That’s a great question,” totally straight-faced and it’s so funny.
I wonder if Rina’s peeps feel the way they do about the whole party? Because Theo is honestly (in Murph’s words) also one of her goons practically and Cumulus pledged the orders’ services to her. You’d think they’d get consideration.
When Cinnamon gives Rina a Help action she goes, “I’ve never gotten Help action before,” and I understand what she meant but also, lol, she gets Help actions like every turn from her guys.
“Don’t come after my distant cousin!”
Very happy that if combat is happening in our story eps we’re getting some story in our combat eps. Getting a significant chunk of immediate aftermath is very cool and something I often wished for in the other main seasons.
FYI: Celestial is Liam’s Greater Favored Enemy.
Brennan really does love to undercut the tenseness of the situations of his dark world by reminding us all that it’s also deeply stupid and made of candy and I think that’s great.
One More Thing
Two big fandom art things are happening right now that I want to shout out:
(1) Until the 24th, D20 is accepting CoC fanart for their finale montage. The email is [email protected] and the details are on their Twitter.
(2) A fan run event is also happening--as big bang (which is a fanfic-visual art team-up thing that I’m learning about for the first time but seems really cool). Info for that is here.
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THE NEW RUSSIAN HOLMES
EPISODE SIX: HALIFAX PART TWO (back to PART ONE)
Outtake: CREATOR OF A LEGEND
________________________________________________________________
Directed by Andrey Kavun - Igor Petrenko as Sherlock Holmes - Andrey Panin as Dr. Watson
Episodes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
While John gets a proper scolding by his furious landlady, the detective inspector and the consulting detective plan to leave the police station as unobtrusively as possible.
TBC below the cut (with a lot of pics and all the spoilers) …
Three is company ...
Lestrade and Holmes aren’t alone for long though. They have hardly left the station when Dr Watson turns up ... armed and in disguise ... ready to free his friend.
The most less thought-off hiding place ...
Sherlock recommends Baker Street 221b because no one would suspect them at home. Mrs Hudson has a good meal ready when the three men turn up, to take a short breather before they continue their dangerous undercover mission.
Sherlock uses the time to tell his companions about his deductions and conclusions. (The doctor’s attentive silence)
There was a secret meeting of four police officers, ensnared by a genius master criminal.
When they finally toast to their bold plan, three of the guys don’t know that they are already dying.
From hiding place to hiding place ...
A prolonged stay at Baker Street is, of course, no advisable strategy. And so Sherlock, John and Lestrade set out for the secret tunnel, built by the now dead burglars. There’s still a lot to be investigated.
Sherlock needs some special equipment for further examinations and a change of location is necessary as well.
Lestrade recommends a safe house, known only to a few reliable people.
Sherlock sends Tom, one of his trusted acquaintances, to Baker Street for the equipment he needs. When the young man returns with the stuff, he warns them to stay at the place for long. ‘It’s a police hideout ... and the whole street knows this.’
Now it’s John’s turn to suggest another hideout for the trio. He chooses a place ‘not exactly welcoming to the police but with an army to protect us, so to speak’, he tells his companions. The place is an inn, frequented primarily by soldiers. All of them seem to know Dr Watson. It turns out that Inspector Lestrade is also no stranger to the guests.
They enjoy a good mug of beer and Sherlock explains to his friends how all the puzzle pieces fit together. (When Sherlock Holmes explains a case)
It was not the National Bank .... it will be the Royal Mint ...
The tunnel into the National Bank had just been a deflection. Moriarty never intended to rob the bank, his plan is a much bigger one. The master criminal wants to rob the whole country ... with forged bank notes, printed by the original printing machine. And to achieve this, he first of all needs that machine. Moriarty managed for Halifax to get a job in the Mint, so that the man was able to copy the printing machine. A perfect plan ... almost.
Halifax did an excellent job. He knew this and was proud of it. A genius, in his own way, just like Holmes and Moriarty in theirs. And so, when Halifax had finished his work, he tricked Moriarty’s men and - using a magical illusion - broke free from his prison.
He took all his artfully crafted bank notes with him and transformed himself into a charming and obviously very rich gentleman, to whom money is no object. Then Halifax went to the national bank at Saxe-Coburg Square in order to change the notes into bars of gleaming gold. And it wasn’t even just the profit which motivated the man. Most of all it was the thrill of the game, the temptation of a bold and fascinating risk. Spectacular but fatal. Halifax payed for this audacity with his life ....
Sherlock clearly likes that man. ‘Let’s drink to Halifax'
The tunnel beneath the tunnel ...
By now Sherlock is convinced that somewhere in the tunnel to the National Bank there must branch off another tunnel, which will lead to the Royal Mint. Sherlock, John and Lestrade set out again in search for that secret tunnel. They nearly miss it but .... thankfully Lestrade had drunk too much beer at the inn and needed to pee .....
Indeed, the first tunnel leads deeper down to a second tunnel. Scarcely hidden behind the wooden panels, the corpse of the poor engeneer had been desposed. And just as Sherlock had anticipated ... Halifax’s copy of the printing machine has been placed right under the secret entry to the Royal Mint.
Inside the Royal Mint ...
Finally the three companions reach their aspired destination inside the Royal Mint. They position themselves as best as possible and prepare for a long wait.
Slowly time goes by ...
Finally there is some movement underground. Slowly the hatch to the secret tunnel opens and one after the other, a group of policemen enters the room. Immediately some of them start preparations to pull the replicated printing machine out of the tunnel, while others investigate the room.
The very moment when Moriarty himself is about to enter the Royal Mint, one of the policemen discovers John and Sherlock at their hiding place. Sherlock’s quick reaction saves John’s life but it also warns Moriarty, who promptly ducks down into the tunnel again and disapears without any further ado. (When the first shot gives away the trap)
Escaped ....
All hell breaks loose now but Sherlock is hardly able to function at all. He is devastated. Never had he been nearer to lay hands on the criminal mastermind and again it was all for nothing.
Another group of policemen enter the room through a door. Shots are fired from all sides. The situation becomes more and more hopless for the three companions. It’s only a matter of time now ...
Desperate, Inspector Lestrade calls his full name, orders his men to cease fire and drop the weapons. At first his efforts seem to be entirely in vain. Only when he starts reciting the oath they all had sworn the day they had become police officers, some of the men stop the fight and listen to him.
‘I’m Inspector Lestrade! ... I, Fitzpatrick Lestrade, do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.’
Slowly more and more of the men follow suit, until finally Inspector Lestrade is in full command of his officers.
This night the Lestrade decides things by himself again and takes the law into his own hands ....
The day after ...
When a new morning rises over London, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson excange words with Inspector Lestrade in front of Scotland Yard. Lestrade thanks them for everything they did. But there is also a severe warning ...
‘... bear in mind: if anything leaks to the newspapers ... your corpses won’t ever be found.’
John will have to decide very carefully what parts from that case he can use for one of his stories.
°
Back to PART ONE Outtake: CREATOR OF A LEGEND
Links to watch the series can be found HERE
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ALL THE EPISODES:
1 & 2 221B Baker Street
3 & 4 Rock, Scissors, Paper
5 & 6 Clowns
7 & 8 The Mistresses of Lord Maulbrey
9 & 10 The Musgrave Ritual Outtake: Advice at The Strand
11 & 12 Halifax part two part one
13 & 14 Holmes’s Last Case
15 & 16 The Hound named Baskerville
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Again, a big thank you to @spiritcc and all the people who made it possible to watch and understand this wonderful Sherlock Holmes adaptation. :))))
January, 2021
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