Synopsis: You were kidnapped, tortured, manipulated. Up until your death, Adrian never saw you or your importance. He called it love, the world called it murder, you called it unfair.
PAIRING: New!Adrian Vale x GN!Reader.
WARNINGS: MDNI, Major character death, descriptions of torture, and isolation. Murder. Gore, angst, disrespect to the reader, cheating, psych wards, unhappy ending (for Adrian).
Adrian stood before the mirror, eyes boring into his reflection as he combs through chestnut brown hair, time was ticking, it was almost time for his scene, where he—Er, his character, Marvin, loses himself in the murmured sweet nothings exchanged between him and his coworker, intimate touches and lingering looks that scream ‘we fuck behind closed doors’, even amidst the rumors about his ‘secret relationship’ with yet another costar of another show he’s in.
Yet his gaze and attention is solely on the other person in the mirror. The ghost reflected on his mirror. Adrian’s own… What should he call you? Lover…? But you don’t love him to be called his lover. No, you despised Adrian, you’ve hated him since he’d taken you in, or as you so affectionately call Adrian saving you from your disgusting mundane life— he “kidnapped” you.
Adrian obviously doesn’t share the sentiment, only glaring at you whenever you have your little tantrums. Screaming matches, breaking valuable expensive decor, hands sabotaging the scripts he’d get in the mail. He stood tall through it all, trying to do anything except that. A suggestion given to him by a friend who went through something similar.
“Just isolate them, Adrian. Barely talk to them and barely feed them for a week, watch how fast they come back running. You, Adrian, are the master. Act like it.”
And as much as he hates to say it; you were his perfect pet after isolation. After days and nights locked in the bleak basement of his mansion, you’d come begging and licking at his feet, words of praise, pleas filled with torment. You hands flitting around his frame, desperate for any human interaction, you had been pushed to the point of hallucination after all.
His punishments and torture carved itself into you like a sculptor to their clay. Stripping down any barrier of yours, molding you to be the perfect reusable pet. The thing Adrian comes back to when he gets bored, when he’s dated so many people and wants to come back to the only constant in his life. You.
He was addicted to you, quitting you for a bit, but keeping you near. Because he knew that at the smallest convenience; you’d be there for him to take his anger out on, to show off that HE is the one in control. The only way your abuser can ever feel in control is when he takes away all your rights, bodily autonomy, just so he can taste a sense of power, of hierarchy. He’s always been used and tossed, so he has every right to do it to the one he… cherishes. The most.
And the irony of it all was funniest. He had the gall, the audacity, to kidnap you, make you his, force you into being in “love” with him and his disgusting personality. But in front of the public eye? You were nothing. No one noticed you, no one ever would notice the heavily covered figure in the sea of reports and security guards. Your figure trailing after Adrian like a love-sick creep.
Always standing there, hearing everyone whisper about yet another steamy public relationship of his, how sensual he is, how pretty, how Adrian and some other celeb would just look oh so good!!! No one knew the shit he put you through, the shit he puts you through. And—how much you love him.
It wasn’t hard for him to make you actually fall in love, to forget the word “healthy”. It was over for you the moment Adrian learnt what stockholm syndrome was, how easy it is for someone to fall in love when they’re fed with enough lies to question reality itself. His hot and cold attitude didn’t help either, the affections, the love, the touching— the pushing away, the ignoring, the mean comments.
Adrian is a freak, a criminal, a psychopath. But who else would love you? Who else would wipe away your tears the way he does? You’ve been “missing” for 3 years now, and no one came to save you, no one tried to get you. And when Adrian informed you that the loved ones in your life never even cared about you, how much they hated you, how much everyone was talking horribly about you behind your back.
His soft and delicate hands rubbing circles on your back in comfort, arms around you as you sit on his lap, weeping like a lost child into his shoulder. Adrian’s words of comfort would’ve meant nothing if you had seen how hard he was smiling, almost giggling at the prospect of you thinking you only had him left in your life. That was nothing but a lie.
With his connections and corrupt cops, he managed to get your missing persons file dismissed, letting the police inform your family that you just ran away. You’re a grown adult who can make the conscious decision to start a new life somewhere far away and possibly tropical! The police fed your family even more lies about you, essentially the same treatment he gave to you, he gave to your friends and family as well.
There of course were some persistent pests, who “knew” you enough to know that you would never do something like this without at least informing someone. These pests were of course dealt with swiftly, not like you’d miss them anyway.
Back to the present, you were smiling at him. Eyes soft and filled with love for him, only Adrian. Your forever love, maybe… Maybe when he gets the courage to, he can confess, finally live a normal life, treat you how you should be treated.
Adrian turns to you, demeanor calm and collected, walking towards you, he cupped your face. Warm and cute under his hands, you speak.
“You are disgusting. Despicable. You don’t deserve love, Adrian, you don’t deserve control either. At the first sight of love, you went and fucked it up, didn’t you, Adrian?” With the question, your head tilts, neck cracking harshly, your head hanging off your neck at this point, yet you continue. “You. Murderer. You. Are. PATHETIC.”
With that, his hallucination gives way, dissolving into millions of maggots that burrow back into the ground. The weight of his actions press heavily against his mind and soul, his entire body losing all of it’s control, sagging onto the floor, knees slamming onto the harsh concrete of his cell. Adrian looks around, knocked out of the psychosis he put himself in just to live past the regret, and guilt of his murder.
You’re dead. His precious jewel, the only thing Adrian thought of day in and day out. He killed you himself in an episode after finding out he’s been cast as a side character of all things. Furniture being hurled across the room, evidence of his rampage all over the living room, TV shattered, bloody kitchen knife in hand, windows—wait what?
Adrian looks down at his hands, clean now, but not back then. He was drenched in blood, sighing he thought it was someone disposable. A maid, a guard, some idiot for god’s sake anyone but you. Yet his assumptions were proven incorrect.
The trail of blood behind him showed him the way to the body, I have to lock the doors here, can’t let my darling see any of this…. He thought as he made his way to another room, the trail getting thicker and wetter, the mess he made throwing shit around even worse. Yet, nothing will ever horrify him as much as your mangled body. Laying there, expression empty, a gorey sight he wouldn’t even wish on his greatest enemy.
Adrian screeched. And screeched. And screeched. His beautiful voice echoing throughout the hallways of the psych ward, much like they did that faithful day…
I hope you guys have been enjoying To Be Mortal so far! We're less than a week away from the launch of ACT II so I thought it would be a good time to share a bit more info on it. 😀
Warning: Genre shift ahead! 😂
While ACT I was mainly a mystery arc (revolving around Narina, her backstory, her parentage and her memory loss), ACT II is first and foremost a romance arc!
Now that Narina and Adrian are finally reunited, Adrian tries his best to fill Narina in on what she's forgotten.
Jump back in time two and a half years to see how Narina and Adrian first met at university! What follows is a STEM-flavoured romance that becomes (what I believe) is the heart of the story. Along the way, slowly discover answers to the various mysteries still lingering around at the end of ACT I!
Here is a little excerpt from Chapter 11 (the first chapter of ACT II):
[Adrian] was halfway to the door when she entered. Hair tied with careful precision, not a strand out of place. Lab coat fully buttoned, a rarity in this building. There was a stillness to the way she moved. Composed. Intentional. The kind of presence that shifted the room just by being in it. She crossed to the biosensor hood, logged in without hesitation, and began calibrating the microneedles. Her hands moved like she'd done it a thousand times. Measured, unshowy, practiced.
She clearly wasn't new to this. But he didn’t recognise her from any previous rotation or group. Her equipment confirmed it: not a material scientist.
Then it clicked: the cross-disciplinary initiative. A broad university push pairing engineers with researchers across biology, chemistry, neurotech. Structured overlap without any fixed deliverables.
This wasn’t the first biologist he’d seen in the lab over the past few months. They came and went, none particularly noteworthy. But something about the woman standing across the lab from him was different. What caught him was the way she checked her pipette. A double tap to her wrist, deliberate but absent-minded, like a trained reflex. As if confirming something her body already knew.
He turned to leave, but something held. A tension he couldn’t name, like the circuit hadn’t discharged. He glanced back, without quite knowing why.
That’s when she met his gaze. Her eyes, sharp and striking blue, held his just long enough to register. She neither flinched nor smiled. Instead, she gave a brief, evaluating pause, as if she’d already assessed him and filed it away, then turned back to her work.
Adrian didn’t fall, didn’t spark. He just noted her, like marking a yield point before a system gives way.
She’d noticed him noticing. He was sure of it. But like him, she left it unacknowledged.
Finally! The answer to a question that probably none of you asked:
What does my profile picture have to do with To Be Mortal?
The answer: Read Chapter 9 of To Be Mortal on AO3 to find out! 😅😂
For those of you who aren't caught up yet, Chapter 9 can actually be read (and more or less fully enjoyed) without needing context from the previous 8 chapters! It doesn't really spoil that much either!
Chapter 9 is actually the scene that inspired the entire fic (and series), so do check it out! ☺️ It's a short chapter, but I think it's an impactful one!
For those of you that came here from AO3 after reading Chapter 9, here is the full resolution image of my profile pic, as promised! Do feel free to check out the rest of my blog while you're here! I post chapter excerpts, preview, commentary... and occasionally, fanart for The Promethean Flame by various talented artists!
Anyway, I drew this image, the helmet of the mysterious "figure", myself on Procreate! It was my first ever attempt at digital art. I hope you guys like it!
Read To Be Mortal on AO3 here!
To Be Mortal is set 7 years after the end of The Trials of Apollo. It reintroduces us to the PJO world and our favourite characters, who are all older and more mature now.
We see how they react when they meet an OC (Narina Lin) whose very nature raises questions they’ve never encountered before!
The story explores the clash/intersection between Science and Mythology, as well as the growing tensions between gods, demigods and humans!
30 chapter story with 3 Acts. The first Act is a mystery arc, the second is a romantic arc (with STEM-romance flavour) and the final act ties it all together (and is the most action-packed!).
And for those of you who missed it last week, here is some artwork (my first ever digital art attempt) of the mysterious Figure who has taken centre stage in the two-part ACT I finale!
Relevant Chapter 10 Excerpt:
And that armour. Up close, it was bulkier than it had any right to be: all squared joints and plated shoulders, like someone had designed it to punch through a warhead and survive. Matte black, with veins of gold circuitry etched onto the surface, flickering with a constant, steady pulse. The helmet was sealed, like a Greek hoplite helm but modernised.
And the sword: that first flare of raw energy that had torn through the barrier was gone. The weapon in the figure’s hand now looked... normal, Percy thought. Still celestial bronze, maybe. Still dangerous, but it didn’t hum anymore.
Percy narrowed his eyes. This wasn’t Olympian. This wasn’t monster. This looked like Hephaestus and Athena had a war baby and left it in a bunker to grow teeth.
Read more on AO3!: To Be Mortal
Also... I'm thinking of trying to draw The Figure's full armour (not just his helmet) but I'm not sure if its too ambitious for a second ever artwork! What do you guys think?
Should I try drawing the full armour?
Yes! Just give it a shot!
Maybe try something simpler first and work up to it slowly!
Here's a little preview for the finale of To Be Mortal Act I!
The figure was moving again, sword lowered and helmet still down. It felt like neither a threat nor a surrender.
Percy moved forward to meet him, Riptide now uncapped, low and steady at his side. “You’ve got five seconds to explain why you tore through our boundary like a monster.”
The helmet tilted again with that same eerie precision. The visor caught the light and returned nothing.
Then a voice, male, slightly metallic through the helmet. “Monsters destroy,” the figure said. “I'm here to correct.”
Percy’s grip shifted. A heartbeat of tension. “Try again.”
Silence, then: “You took someone from me.”
Annabeth felt her breath catch. The way he said it: Without anger or desperation, just absolute certainty.
Percy frowned. “We don’t abduct people.”
“No,” the figure said. “But you follow gods who do.”
Read more on AO3!: To Be Mortal
Things are really coming to a head! Hope you guys are as excited for the Act I finale as I am!!
This is my first chapter written from Percy's PoV! Here's a little snippet!
And then, of course, there was the name. Adrian. It had caught [Percy] off guard when [Narina] whispered it last night. He’d heard a lot of names over the years: gods, monsters, campers, enemies, allies. But that one had weight. Like it had been carried a long time just to reach her lips.
And she had remembered it. Which meant she hadn’t lost everything. Percy slowed his steps even more, following the thought to its end. It should have been hopeful, but instead, it made his chest ache. He remembered what it had felt like when Hera wiped his memories and all he had left was a single name: Annabeth. It had nearly broken him.
And now Narina had a name like that. He swallowed. It isn’t fair. She deserves one full day of being whole, without strings.
He reached the meeting spot behind the stables just as Annabeth stepped out from the shadow of the archery range. She looked like she’d been up for hours already. Hair braided back, tablet under one arm, that particular Athena-tightness-in-her-jaw that meant she’d already had three theories and an argument with herself before breakfast. He took one look at her and felt that familiar twist. Yeah, that was his girl.
"Hey," Percy said, offering a grin. "You look like you slept great."
Annabeth studied him for a moment without smiling, then said, "You're still floating."
He blinked. "What?"
"You're walking like you forgot the ground's real."
Read more on AO3!: To Be Mortal
To Be Mortal is set 7 years after the end of The Trials of Apollo. It reintroduces us to the PJO world and our favourite characters, who are all older and more mature now.
We see how they react when they meet an OC whose very nature raises questions they’ve never encountered before!
30 chapter story with 3 Acts. The first Act is a mystery arc, the second is a romantic arc (with STEM-romance flavour) and the final act ties it all together (and is the most action-packed!).
