b e c c a 23. BIRD OF PREY. LOST. They say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all... but I don't think I believe that yet. Walking like a one man army,
Fighting with the shadows in your head.
Living out the same old moment...
I miss everything. I miss talking to her, hearing about her day. I miss her voice all gravelly and smoky, I miss hearing her laugh, I miss getting her letters, writing her letters. I miss her eyes, and the smell of her hair, and the way her breath tasted. I fucking miss everything. I miss knowing she was around, because it helped me to know that she was around, someone like her existed. I guess most of all, I miss knowing I would see her again. I always thought I’d see her again
There’s no sunshine this impossible year; only black days and sky grey and clouds full of fear. And storms full of sorrow that won’t disappear; just typhoons and monsoons this impossible year.
Panic! at the Disco, Impossible Year (via bowloftara)
SUMMARY → Becca Apparates to Leo Spinnet for help after her girlfriend’s death, but gets more than she bargained for when Leo’s roommate comes to her rescue as well.
It started out an okay night. For once, he hadn’t had to stay late at work, and instead of Netflixing and chilling by himself, Oliver Hopkins had company. After months of texting back and forth after running into each other for the first time after Hogwarts, he and Persephone Clearwater were “hanging out” at his place tonight. Well, his and Leo’s place, which was probably why Persephone had brought her friend Kennedy for Leo, right? Even after hanging out all night and relaxing in their apartment living room now, he wasn’t sure if it was a date, or even if he wanted it to be or not. Dates were fun, but it wasn’t like he had a hell of a lot to offer at this point in his life. He still lived with a roommate and had the most unsteady stream of jobs he could imagine. He’d gotten better looking since school ended, but that could only take someone so far.
He wasn’t even sure what Persephone was talking about while Leo went into the kitchen to get drinks for them all. He wasn’t paying attention. He was mainly wondering how to call tonight an early night while still managing to schedule a new date some other night, one where he didn’t feel dead after a day of running the post office. It was an easy but emotionally draining job and there was nothing more that he wanted to do than fall asleep. A noise finally caught his attention, but it didn’t come from Persephone - it came from a light crash down the hall, followed a little after by a voice, a weak quiet voice. Grateful for the interruption, Oliver excused himself and hurried to the kitchen to get Leo, warning him that there was someone else in the house. Leo got this look on his face, the familiar “I know something you don’t” look except without the cockiness. “’Scuse me,” he let out, pushing past Oliver and hurrying down the hall. Not one to be left behind, Oliver hurried after him, down the hall, to his room. He pulled his wand out and held it at the ready as he turned into Leo’s bedroom and saw Leo at his knees besides a small figure in the middle of the floor.
Oliver stared blankly at what appeared to be Becca Goldstein. It only appeared to be her, though, since he’d never seen her so messed up before. Granted, he hadn’t seen her in a while, but she was all scratched and bruised and…Merlin, she was bleeding really badly. He knew she’d gone on to be a superhero -one of the better reasons nothing had ever happened between them, really- but he hadn’t seen what that meant until now. And it was more than the obvious damage. She had this sadness on her face, this hollowness, that he assumed had come from things he couldn’t imagine seeing. He didn’t know what to do or say at this point, and he expected to stay frozen but instead he burst in. “What’s happening? What’s going on? Is she okay?” His voice was hoarse from surprise as his mind raced trying to catch up to what was happening.
BECCA:
The shock of the evening was starting to wear off, and as the numbness subsided, Becca started to feel the effects of the last hour. She let out a pained gasp as she finally started to feel the would in her back, and she wondered how the hell her adrenaline had managed to hide the fact that she’d been stabbed for so long. She closed her eyes, clutching at the gash, and in the blackness behind her eyelids, Becca saw everything in slow motion, replaying her loss over and over and over. Thankfully, footsteps jerked her eyes back open, and she grimaced as Leo kneeled by her side, trying to help her move so he could get a closer look at what had happened.
“You really did it this time,” he murmured to her as he pulled his wand out and started tracing it over her wound. Leo probably had to clean it first -- Becca didn’t usually ask, she just let him do his healing while she chatted to him about the night’s work, but tonight she was silent. Her mouth was dry, and she could sense the concern in Leo’s eyes when she didn’t make any jokes or even say anything at all in response. It was like she didn’t know how to speak anymore; her mouth hung open stupidly, but the lump in her throat stopped her from telling him what had happened. The spells Leo was murmuring seemed to change; Becca assumed that the stinging she’d been feeling was him cleaning it, and now as he traced his wand across her skin, she hissed at the feeling of flesh being closed up by invisible needles.
Becca hadn’t even registered that Oliver was in the doorway too, but as Leo kept focusing on her injuries, keeping her from falling back to the ground all the while, her eyes went to his roommate. She hadn’t seen Oliver since graduation, but if she could focus, she might have noticed that time seemed to have been good to him. She couldn’t, though; panic bubbled up, and her sunken eyes went wide at the sight of him. “I’m fine.” That was what she wanted to say, but the words died on her lips. She wanted him to leave; it was bad enough that Leo had to see her like this -- Leo, who after the Birds of Prey, she trusted most in the whole world -- but Oliver, who she’d made a deliberate effort to push away? Who she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d spoken to?
“Dude, I’ve got this,” Leo told his roommate, as his spell continued to work the area on Becca’s back where she’d been stabbed; but his words came at the same time as the tiny blonde finally managed to find her voice, choking out a miserable, “She’s gone.” Becca’s blank stare moved away from Oliver; disregarding the magic that was still at work, she turned towards Leo, burying her head in his shoulder and finally letting herself really cry, muffling the sounds of her sobs with Leo’s shirt. Her friend’s arms went around her, and she could feel Oliver still watching them from the door, but she couldn’t hold it together anymore. She wasn’t bleeding anymore, and now that she was out of danger, she couldn’t avoid the harsh reality. She felt one of Leo’s arms leave her back to wave Oliver out of the room, indicating for him to go back to their invited guests and leave him to handle their unexpected visitor.
TAGGING → Becca Goldstein & Oliver Hopkins (@hopliver)
TIMELINE → December 1, 2030
SETTING → Leo & Oliver’s Apartment
SUMMARY → Becca Apparates to Leo Spinnet for help after her girlfriend’s death, but gets more than she bargained for when Leo’s roommate comes to her rescue as well.
TRIGGER WARNING → Blood.
BECCA:
Becca felt the world squeezing in around her as she Apparated away, her eyes squeezed tight and focusing on Leo’s bedroom. She’d done this too many times -- stumbled in at all hours, let her best friend patch her back up, and then gone on her way. But tonight it was different. Tonight, it didn’t matter what healing charms Leo performed on her body; nothing could heal the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach, or the clenching pain around her heart. It was a wonder that Becca could even focus on Leo’s room at all when the image of her face, so pained and so still, was all that kept threatening to appear behind Becca’s eyelids.
The spinning sensation that always accompanied Apparition lessened as Becca toppled onto the familiar floor of Leo’s room. The tiny blonde still didn’t even know the extent of her own injuries -- she vaguely remembered something swiping her back while she’d been fighting for Jules, but it felt like forever ago. Time stretched now around one singular event, around her death, and everything before it felt like some far off distant memory. Still, she tried to stand, light-headed from Apparating and from losing blood she wasn’t even aware had been dripping down her back, and felt herself crashing back to the floor, knocking one of Leo’s chairs over with her.
Her friend wasn’t in his room, and she only prayed that he was here at all. This had become almost routine for them: Becca slipping in without Oliver ever noticing his roommate’s late night visitor, Leo making light of every near-death experience with her, letting her laugh off the pain while he patched her up, and then Becca Apparating back out and repeating it all over again the next time she was out on a mission. But it seemed like tonight her luck was finally out, as she clutched at her back, pulling her hand back and seeing something sticky and red on her fingers. “Leo,” Becca called out weakly, hoping that the muffled noises she heard in the other room were her friend and that by some miracle his roommate wasn’t here, too. “Leo,” she tried again from her spot on his floor, a bit louder this time but her voice choked by the sobs she’d been holding back ever since she’d left her girlfriend’s body behind.
SUMMARY → Things go wrong while the Birds of Prey are tracking a lead on an organization of assassins, and one of their members falls during the battle.
TRIGGER WARNING → Violence, character death.
Cold air whipped around her, but Becca didn’t even notice. This had become almost a nightly routine for them -- follow another lead, take down bad guys that wouldn’t talk, go home to tend their wounds, repeat.
Except tonight felt different. Becca ducked under a bow and arrow; the shooter’s sheath was empty, and they’d taken to trying to use it as a staff. Becca sprang back up to a fighting stance, grabbing the bow and getting a firm enough grip to use it to flip the unsuspecting attacker, leaving them immobile for the time being.
Her head whipped to the side, seeing an attacker about to hit Jules from behind, and Becca hurtled herself through the distance between them, landing a jumping kick square to their hip, leaving them stumbling.
“You okay?” she asked Jules, slightly breathless, offering her older sister a hand to help her gain her balance as more assassins closed in around them. The Goldstein sisters put their backs to each other, preparing to lash into the circle around them, and on Jules’s cue, they launched into action, a flurry of movement all that was discernible to anyone watching. Two versus seven, then six, then there were five, down to three...
Something grazed against Becca’s back, but she hardly felt it. She didn’t know if she’d just had someone rap a staff against her spine, or if something had cut through her leather suit... honestly, she didn’t care. She was still whirling to face oncoming attackers, ignoring any pain, doing her best to protect her team. Her sister. Her friends. Her girlfriend...
Becca landed a blow to their solar plex, and with the wind knocked out of her assailant, she twisted their arm and threw them onto their back, stepping on their chest to keep them down as she looked around.
Jules. Safe. Naomi, Nessa, safe. Becca felt exhausted, but she was accounted for. Everyone was accounted for, except for...
Becca twirled, sensing motion behind her back. She was too far away to do anything, but it was like it was happening in slow motion.
A sword, wielded by one of their enemies -- the only one still standing -- pulled back and ready to be thrust forward. Becca’s girlfriend, her eyes wide with shock, caught too off guard to move. A scream, ripping through the night as the sword plunged straight through her.
But the scream didn’t come from the one being stabbed. It came from Becca, as she watched the woman she loved fall to her knees, clutching at the wound in her stomach.
She was still screaming as Jules pulled out an arrow and shot it right through the last of the standing assassins, the one that was still holding the dripping sword.
Becca surged forward, cradling her in her arms, stroking her hair, whispering, “You’ll be okay, you’ll be okay, you’ll be okay.”
But she wouldn’t be. Becca could already feel the life slipping out of her by the time she’d wrapped her arms around her to keep her from laying on the hard pavement.
The tiny blonde felt a hand on her back, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from her girlfriend, who was telling her it was okay even as the silent tears streamed down her face. She was trying to be brave for Becca, even at her last seconds.
“Becca, you’re bleeding,” Jules said from behind her, but she couldn’t feel anything. Her face was ashen as she stared, trying to find the words to say but at a complete loss. I love you didn’t feel like enough; it felt like there should be something so much larger, so much grander, that she could say to send the love of her life out of this world with.
Because that’s what was happening. Becca was frozen, cradling her to her chest, letting the cold realization wash over her. She’d seen people die before -- in the way back at Hogwarts, and in their battles since she’d become a Bird of Prey... but usually she was watching the last heartbeats slip away from people who they were fighting. Not from the people she cared about.
Not from the person she cared about most.
The sagging figure in her arms was getting heavier as more and more of her life force slipped away, and she seemed to be trying to speak, but there was blood coming out of her mouth, and Becca shook her head, wanting her to stop. Wanting her to have even just a few more seconds from not exerting herself.
Her head didn’t stop shaking; she felt numb, in disbelief. Time felt like it was stretching on for an eternity, and yet like it couldn’t last long enough. Her “You’ll be okays” had morphed into “I love yous,” repeated over and over and over, tears streaming down her face now too, until finally, one last gasp came out of her mouth, and Becca realized she wasn’t holding the girl she loved anymore.
She was holding a body; nothing more.
Within a matter of seconds, the whole world changed. Becca went from detachment -- from feeling like she was almost outside of her body, watching this happen to someone else, watching the world in slow motion -- to being slammed with feelings all at once.
Becca felt like the whole world had been ripped away from her. Everything hurt, every inch of her ached to bring her girlfriend back to life, and there was no way to let out the pain. Her body wracked with silent sobs as she clutched her fallen companion to her chest, clinging to her, holding her hand as if she could squeeze it so tightly that she would come back to life.
“Becca,” Jules whispered from beside her again, and Becca could vaguely tell that her sister was squeezing her shoulder still. “Becca, we need to get you help,” Jules told her. “There’s nothing else we can do for her, but we need -- you need to go see a Healer. Please -- please, I can... I can take her body back for you, I can take care of everything...”
The words floated around her head, but still none of them felt real. It was a jumble of things that made no sense, because how could the world make sense when her girlfriend wasn’t in it anymore? Becca’s head felt light, and she didn’t know why -- even in her weakened state, she fought to hold on, even as Jules tried hard to pull her away.
“No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” she whispered over and over again, her chest still heaving as she cried. “I can’t leave her, I can’t...I can’t -- “
But the bad guys were gone -- fled, or down for the count. The rest of the Birds of Prey surrounded Becca, standing over her, all in varying states of sadness. Even the strongest of them looked affected, and they crouched to her side, lifting the body out of her reach.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, guilty mixing with the anguish as she wondered if there was something more she could have done -- some way she could have saved the girl she loved from this kind of fate. Jules wrapped an arm around Becca’s waist to help her stand, but Becca still staggered.
Jules was right; something had hit her during the fight, but she didn’t care. She still couldn’t even register the physical pain, no matter how much she wished she could. Anything had to feel better than the hole that Becca felt like had ripped right through her heart.
Becca couldn’t even look at Jules; her eyes were still on the others as they carried her body farther and farther out of Becca’s reach, each step washing in a fresh wave of hopelessness.
What was the point of fighting anymore? They were all fighting to protect the people they loved, and Becca had just watched hers fall before her very eyes. She’d been the strong one, the one who actually belonged here -- unlike Becca, who had joined by luck and connections. She was one of the strongest people, the bravest... the one who deserved to still be standing here now, instead of Becca.
“Becks, let me take you to go get help. Here, just -- “ Jules tried to wrap her arm around her little sister, but Becca didn’t want her pity, or fancy doctors, or anyone that she was going to have to explain how she’d ended up with such an injury too. Using the last of her strength, she brushed away from Jules’s touch, focused on Leo Spinnet’s apartment, and Apparated away.
gummygunk
blakekathryn
dailybridgerton
izzy806
yousharknotpass
stormborns
kaledo-art
