AxelsFire

They/Them (or any) Avid fanfic consumer and tepid fanfic writer Biologist and Bird-owner I'm on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxelsFire96

[axelsfire]

Snippet of Chapter 6 of Aulë's Servant

Have a weekend snippet! We're getting close...

" When Lúthien finished recounting her tale, Varda sighed. "You do not know what you have done, child. The Fëanorians are dangerous. They could use what is inside those jewels for great evil."

"Maedhros is a good person. They could also do much good with them."

"The stars say that they will not."

"They could just do average things then. I care not. You told me yourself that fate can change. It is wrong to punish someone for something they have not yet done, and perhaps never will do."

This seemed like common sense to Lúthien. Varda frowned, seemingly to disagree.

"Well, it is done now. We shall see what they will make of it. If you have not come to apologise, then what have you come for?"

"I want to discuss the Doom of the Ñoldor." Varda blinked, taken aback. This was evidently not what the Goddess expected. " Who's ready for Lúthien to sledgehammer her way through the entire Silmarillion? Get their asses, Lúthien

[axelsfire]

Snippet of Chapter 6 of Aulë's Servant

" Sauron expected someone to come with chains any minute now, before his lord would come to speak with him. Honestly, he had expected someone to come during the night, but no one had. He had been entirely undisturbed, left to sleep and recover. In an actual bed, no less. There were books, but he did not dare touch them. Perhaps there was a cell being prepared for him at this moment, and they had not yet got around- 

A knock on the door. Sauron blinked at it. 

Nothing happened. Then it came again, tentative. 

"Come in?" It sounded like a question. 

The person who entered was short and willowy, obviously a Maia. Sauron rose expectantly, clasping his hands behind his back; surely, they would have chains with which to- 

They had a tray. With tea.  " The Maia interactions have been very fun and crunchy to write so far!

[axelsfire]

Chapter 5 of Aulë's Servant is now up!

Chapter summary:

"

This was it. Sauron would finally have to confront Aulë, in his broken and damaged state, and attempt to appease the Vala who had rescued him. Despite everything he had done, despite his betrayal of his old friend, Aulë had still sent Lúthien to rescue him. He was not worthy of it. How could he be? But he was determined to prove that he could be useful still, that he would earn his place and attempt to make amends where he may. If only he could focus through the dread and fear long enough to come up with a useful strategy.

Aulë was pacing. He had no idea what he was going to say or do once Mairon arrived. What if it all went wrong the same way it had done before? What if Mairon resented him still? What if this was a mistake? Despite his worries, he felt anticipation thrum through him at the prospect of finally getting to see his old friend again, someone he thought lost to him forever.

Lúthien wanted Sauron to stop panicking quite so hard; she had things to do.

"

[axelsfire]

Chapter 5 snippet of Aulë's Servant!

"

She sucked in a breath. "I killed Morgoth."

Aulë choked on the bite of scone he had just taken. He decorporealated briefly to dislodge it, then immediately reformed his throat again to say, "What."

Lúthien frowned. “I killed him. I had to, the situation was untenable as it was.”

“What,” He repeated uselessly. Desperately.

Would he not have felt the death of a fellow Vala? Surely there would have been some sign of the fabric of the Song changing that much, some-

Now Luthien looked concerned. “My lord, are you alright? You are turning into stone again.”

“Ah.”

"

I'm planning on posting the chapter on Sunday. Hope you're all excited! 40,000 words later, we finally surpass the end of where chapter 1 left us off...

[axelsfire]

Chapter 5 snippet of Aulë's Servant

It's Wednesday, we're halfway there folks. Have a celebratory snippet! "

"Lord Ulmo was adamant that it was the best way of learning how to sail. I am still not sure I agree, but I did learn how to swim better," Lúthien admitted. 

Sauron gripped the edge of the boat tighter, though she seemed to have everything well in hand now. "How long were you apprenticed?" 

"A week." 

Sauron blinked at her, waiting for her to laugh. She did not. "You spent one week being tutored in seafaring by the Lord of Waters himself and what, remembered every piece of information by rote?" 

"Yes," She frowned at him. "Why are you saying it like that?" 

Good grief. Half-elves were terrifying; he never stood a chance. 

"

CW: mature, references to torture/rape

[axelsfire]

Chapter 4 of Aulë's Servant is now up!

Chapter summary:

"

Sauron was aware that he was not the easiest to get along with, even if he had not done the things he had done to his companion. He was doing his best to be subservient, to be good and obedient but admittedly, it did not come naturally to him. So far Lúthien had been patient with him, but he felt as though he was walking a tight rope strung across a yawning chasm which could snap at any moment. He was not sure he would survive it, when it did.

Lúthien just wished Sauron would stop cringing like a kicked dog every time she looked in his direction.

"

Edit: forgot CW: mature, references to torture/rape

[winterskywrites]

It's Just Me (Ain't A Damn Thing Changed), Chapter 6

In which the truth finally comes out, in more ways than one.

[axelsfire]

Whoo identity reveal Batfam! 🥳 Such a cool fic, highly recommend it, it is so well written! As all of WinterSky's stuff is

[axelsfire]

Snippet for Chapter 4 of AS

It's Saturday, have a snippet!

"

Ah. So, he had misstepped after all.

Yet he could not help but add, “That does not seem accurate. How would you punish those who have done wrong? How could you be sure that they would not commit such acts again? Surely you can agree that I have done the most wrong of anyone except perhaps Morgoth. Who could ever be more deserving of punishment than myself?”

Lúthien turned away, taking a deep breath. Sauron waited. He had not had much chance for lively debate lately, and it was oddly exhilarating, if terrifying.

“Ugh,” Lúthien sighed as she rubbed a hand over her face. He seemed to make her do that a lot. “I am the wrong person for this.”

"

We are getting somewhere. Slowly but surely...

[axelsfire]

Just finished a rewatch of the West Wing, S1E14, "Take This Sabbeth Day" on capitol punishment, and it's giving me so many feels on Sauron's pov in Aulë's Servant about his feelings on needing his own punishment....

I'll post a snippet later today!

Not religious, but my favorite part in this episode, is Father Cavanagh talking to President Bartlett and he tells this story:

"You remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town, and that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, "I'm religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me." The waters rose up. A guy in a rowboat came along and he shouted, "Hey, hey you, you in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety." But the man shouted back, "I'm religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me." A helicopter was hovering overhead and a guy with a megaphone shouted, "Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I'll take you to safety." But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety. Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. "Lord," he said, "I'm a religious man, I pray, I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?" God said, "I sent you a radio report, a helicopter and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?""

[winterskywrites]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

In which robot invasions (and annoying brothers) are the absolute worst.

[starspray]

*screams in oh my god i'm almost at the end*

[axelsfire]

I was just looking at the stats for the "meanwhile the world goes on" series on AO3, and I can't believe that StarSpray only started it in January last year and it's almost 700,000 words now! You are an insane writer, StarSpray. An inspiration to us all 🙏

(if you have not read it yet, go do that! It's amazing!)

[axelsfire]

Chapter 3 up now!

Chapter 3 of Aulë's Servant is now up here.

Summary:

Sauron is sure that he deserves all he suffers at Melkor's hands. He may wish for an end, but he knew intimately that you must first prove deserving of one, and he had not. His mind had been dulled and slowed, his fëa fractured irreparably, and his body broken.

And then, oddly, Lúthien was there.

CW: mature, references to torture/rape, non-graphic description of vomiting, mild dissociation

[axelsfire]

Third Chapter Snippet

Almost finished the third chapter of Aulë's Servant, hopefully one more week! 🥳 Here's another snippet to celebrate:

"

There was a void where Melkor had been. Morgoth. His absence was a split down the middle of Sauron’s fëa from which he could not escape from nor fill. It was a different ache than the feeling of all the wounds of his fëa which cried out in agony still. The void was simply…there. Empty and cavernous, yawning across his soul. He could not help but reach for it occasionally, as though poking at a missing tooth, something he had always instinctively felt was there but had not paid much attention to until it was suddenly gone. The tether in his fëa which should lead to a Vala was floating adrift, unattached and frayed.  

He was free-falling. The sensation was terrifying in its perceived harmlessness, the slow awareness of his entire fëa being unattached to the Third Song. Sauron was intimately aware of the fact that falling meant an eventual impact, and this time, there was no one who would catch him at the other end.  

"

[axelsfire]

It's Thursday, have a drabble!

I aimed to write it within ten mins, using the prompt of "birthmark".

"I have a birthmark. Mostly, it is hidden by my clothes. It is on my forearm, on the back, where I must twist to see it if I wished to. Mostly, I forget I have it.

Until the weather gets warmer and I wear shorter sleeves. Children will approach me and say, "what happened to your arm?".

I always laugh. Sometimes I say I was bitten by a crocodile, or that I spilled radioactive ink when I was a child. Sometimes I say a dragon did it, but that he was politely apologetic about it. Sometimes I just tell them it's a birthmark, that I was born with it. But I'm always amused.

Adults see it, and look away immediately to not be caught looking. They'll lose the train of their thoughts, stutter off into silence, then awkwardly laugh and call themselves scatter brained. I always laugh with them. I don't mind it.

I never think of the fact that I have one, unless it comes up in conversation. I would not list it in the top ten traits that I have, nor even the top hundred. I just don't think of it.

But other people do. I wonder, if they were asked to identify me to someone who has never met me, would it be first thing they'd note? It is almost definitely in the top ten things they'd say. "Taller then average, brown hair, and with a large birthmark on their left arm." I imagine they would say something like that.

As I never have to identify myself, I don't think of it. If I was asked, "who are you to yourself?" I still would not think of it. I would think that I am obsessed with candles and the color phthalo green, that I am kind most of the time, away with the fairies all of the time, and that I like to think I'm funny.

In my own mind I don't need to identify myself because I know who I am. But I don't mind that other people need to put my birthmark inside the picture that makes up the me inside their minds. Other people's mes are still worth knowing."

[axelsfire]

Mango likes to "help" me with my writing sometimes...

[axelsfire]

Writing session in progress

Was working on the Sauron chapter of Aulë's Servant just now, it's coming along! Will almost definitely be two chapters though. Here's a snippet if you're interested:

"

Sauron gave up attempting to parse what she wanted; Lúthien's face was unreadable to him as he was now. 

"My lady can do as she wishes," He said carefully, taking his hands from his hair. 

Lúthien frowned. He had displeased her again somehow, and was too stupid to figure out- 

Before he could apologise, she approached.

"

The angst has been fun so far! Poor Sauron is really going through it...

[kibutsulove]

morgoth when he realizes that luthien is in fact not trapped in his throne room with him and that he’s actually trapped in his throne room with her

[axelsfire]

This is the exact vibe of my latest fic chapter 🤣