AKA ah FUCK i had a terrible idea and got invested.
Alternate title - The MC (Kate in this instance) said Fuck It and embraces godhood.
Sabine suffers, Garnok's an ass, Kate finds out she can make deals, Khaan's about to have a very rude awakening.
Also chock full of Headcannons
13K Words of Sabine regretting everything under the cut + A little explanation
This was originally spurred on by the idea of how Weirded Out the Dark Riders would be if/when they find out the MC is connected to Aideen, and then it took off into this.
I love writing characters who fully embrace their powers and just go apeshit, and i think the MC would be a really fun character for this, especially with the way we're able to interact with the Dark Riders. I know personally i play like i'll offend them if i say something rude, so whenever i'm given the choice, ill always try to go the 'Talk it Out' route, which, in the context of this little fic, translated to Kate being terrible at Godhood. She's simply too nice and if i ever expand on this, it'll be fun to see how the rest of the Dark Riders interact with her.
Please come scream at me about your thoughts and headcannons! I have so many stupid little scenes that branch off this idea that i've already written
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“Sabine”, the General relaxed under the fingers running over her shoulders as Kate softly pushed the ebony hair out of the way. “I found the problem”, her voice betrayed her calm demeanour, strained and shaky.
“What is it?”, she turned to the Druid, scared lip scowling as the blond focused on the magic coursing through the Dark Riders body.
It was quiet for a moment, Kate intent on rooting out the problem before Sabine’s patience ran out. “There’s a tether between you and Garnok”, she started, and the General raised a brow. “Every time your magic grows-”, brilliant white light pulsed through her veins, and Sabine stiffened under the warmth, so different from the fire coursing through her body, but similar all the same, “-every time you use your power, Garnok eats away a piece of you”
“What are you saying?”
“Garnok is killing you to survive”, Blue met Amber, and Kate froze at the horrified look in the woman's eyes, “Pandoria won’t hold him for long”
“We’re dying?”, Her voice was quiet, far away, eyes unfocused as she stared at nothing.
“Garnok’s using you, and the other Dark Riders, to sustain himself while he's trapped”, the light pulling at her veins pulsed brighter, filling the room with a soft glow. “He’s killing you all just to keep himself alive”
“I guess that's why no Generals survive for long”, the Rider hummed darkly.
The air was heavy, as the two sat, stagnant silence between them. Sabine stared at her boots as Kate shifted behind her. “I might be able to help”
“How?”, her voice was low, arms resting on her knees as she leant back. “We made a pact with a God. I don't think there's any coming back from that one”, her eyes were closed, lips pulled into a thin line.
“I’m-”, Kate started, but the words caught in her throat. “The Keepers and the Druids really wish I wasn't, I know Avalon hates it especially”, She shifted, stretching her legs out along the couch, muscles strained from the uncomfortable way she had sat. “Sometimes I wish I had stayed away too, but then I guess I wouldn't have had this much fun”
“Spit it out”, Sabine growled, arm thrown over her eyes.
“I’m Aideen”, Kate draped herself over the arm of the couch as Sabine turned to her with the speed of a whip.
“What!”, she roared, bent over the Druid, amber eyes bright and fiery.
“Well technically I'm her reincarnation, but-”, Kate stammered, lips twisting into an awkward smile as she shuffled back. “-I can use a lot of her abilities, her light. I'm kind of like a boost for the other circles-”
“Your Aideen!?”
“Aideen’s Reincarnation, yes-”
“Your a god!”
“Not officially!”, She managed to squirrel her way out of the Rider’s shadow, “But if Garnok can make deals, maybe I can too”
“Your-”, Sabine eyed her warily, but a faint sparkle of hope burned in her eyes. “You want me to make a deal with you?”
“Yes”, the Druid leapt to her feet, staring up at Sabine with hope. “I'll be honest, I don't really know how it works, But I’m like 76% sure I can make deals too”
“That-”, Sabine turned away for a moment, arms crossed and foot tapping, “-Doesn't fill me with confidence”
Kate leant over the couch, resting her chin on her arms as the Dark Rider paced. “If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, but if it does…”
“If it works, what happens to Khaan?”, Kate turned to the wide window, and the barn sitting quiet, warm glow spilling from between the slats. “He’s bonded with General Malumi, not…me”
“He might be corrupted, but he’s still a Starbreed, both of you are still bonded, I can tell”, Sabine had stopped pacing, arms still crossed, but she followed the Druid’s gaze to the barn, face neutral, but eyes betraying the sadness she felt at the thought of her loyal beast in pain. “Besides, I’m Aideen, if I can help you, I can help him”
“I thought you were just her reincarnation”
“Potato Tomato”, Kate smiled up at the woman, hand outstretched and smiling wide. “What do you say? Care to make a deal with God?”
Sabine eyed the hand warily, “What do you want in return?”
“Oh, uhh”, The offered hand lowered, arm hanging limp as she hummed. It was quiet for a moment, and then Kate turned to her with a hard-set look in her eyes. “You and I know that the Keepers will destroy Jorvik if it means killing Garnok”, the resourceful diplomat had returned, and Sabine wondered just how frightening this woman could be when she was determined. “They’ll justify it as a necessary sin, they don't care what happens to the people as long as Garnok is eradicated”, for a woman laying limply over the back of a couch, Sabine was amazed at how frightening she could look. “I won’t let them, I can’t. Not when the people of this island have no say in it. I’ve made my life here, and I’ve grown attached, and I won’t let Dark Core or the Keepers destroy the world just so the other doesn’t get their way”, Sabine eyed her curiously, starting to piece together what Kate would ask. “Help me stop Garnok, and whatever power he’s given you, whatever he's taken from you, I promise it's all yours”, Sabine eyed the woman, something curious shining in her eyes. “And I'll help Khaan. Those are my terms”
“You would have helped Khaan regardless”, The Dark Rider raised a brow, and Kate smiled.
“I would have. Mortifa and Acerbus and Jay and Katja too, if they'll let me. But now it's written in stone”, She held out her hand again, veins burning white hot as she smiled a deceptively sweet smile, as if she wasn't a God about to tie herself to her enemies most trusted General, as if Sabine wasn't about to gamble her own life for the second time.
The General took the God's hand, and the world exploded in white hot stars. It burned, like flames eating at her skin, her bone. Fire had never bothered Sabine, not when she was its master, but this, it felt like dying. A bone deep pain that ripped through everything she was, flaying her very nerves and sending blinding bolts of light through her. The point where her calloused palms met Kate’s, that hurt the most, like pure electricity racing between their palms.
Sabine screamed. Agony was barely enough to describe what she was feeling. If this was dying, she didn’t want it.
And then it stopped. Just as quick as it had started. The pain simply vanished and Sabine was left kneeling on the floor, wood biting into her palms and jaw locked shut as she struggled to breath. Faintly, she could hear someone calling her name.
“Sabine!”, the Druid was kneeling next to her, deft fingers running down her spine as the woman shook. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it would hurt!”
The General turned to her weakly, head resting on the floor as static danced between the two. “I’m fine”, she knew the Druid didn’t believe her, if she focused enough on the little silvery thread coiled between them, she could tell that Kate was frowning, eyebrows pinched as Sabine lay still. But she couldn’t look at her, simply because she wasn’t corporal. She was hazy around the edges, eyes glowing and veins burning white, and if Sabine looked too hard, a headache would slowly start breaking her skull in two.
Briefly, as she rolled onto her back, she remembered the pain that laced through her for weeks after she had sold her soul to Garnok. There was none of that stabbing agony here, not when the fire burning through her had died down to a warm ember. It was nice, she thought, and for the first time since Garnok, Sabine found that the wildfire that lived in her veins had calmed. It didn't eat at her skin anymore, it just…burned, like a campfire content to its bed of warm coals.
She could hear the Druid calling her name, but ignored it in favor of the sleep that came easily now.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Someone You Loved
Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
13k words - General Audience
The first thing Travis thinks when he hears the crying in the middle of the night is, ‘my apartment is fucking haunted’. It wakes him up out of a dead sleep and he lays there staring at the dark ceiling in terror for a solid 30 seconds before he finally has the thought to turn the light on.
The second thing he thinks is, someone’s playing a fucking prank on him. Except... none of his teammates would ever leave him with a real life baby.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
and then it all goes away
Nathan MacKinnon/Cale Makar
13k words - Mature
There’s a part of Cale that thinks that it was fate that Nate—tender and wounded—had chosen to sit next to him on the flight back to Denver in late May. Cale thinks too about how he’d felt as though something momentous was happening when Nate turned and admitted how depressed he’d been lately, how it was eating him alive.
“Tell me,” Cale had directed—hadn’t given him a choice, really—and Nate had unlocked, exposing all of the brutal, delicate things tangling him up from the inside. Their murmurs turned to whispers until they’d been ducked close together discreetly as the rest of the cabin settled into sleep.
