Alone (part 5)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Azriel x Reader
Summary: First introduction with the rest of the brothers.
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Word Count: 2345 (im giggling lol)
Warnings: not a lot of calix in this sadly ☹️ none i think, but do lemme know if i need to add smth <3
A/n: erm so....HI! i did crawl out of my cave to write this hehe. i had like half of this written and half of part 6 written, and then yesterday i was like i gotta lock in, and now its finally here!! prt 6 may come soon idk BUT no promises
I MISSED YALL SM OMG ISTG ILY ALL 💖🥹
(part 6 is just calix and yn interaction and NYOTHING else hehe be ready to be fed my loves)
ANYWAYS, ENJOYYYY!!!🥳🥳🥳
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"I think the topic I found the hardest while studying was more on the practical side. Poisons and life studies were easier, and essentially the only thing I looked forward to studying." Y/n pondered as she stared outside the one way window in the kitchen, spatula in one hand and the handle of the pot in another.
"It’s great that you got to become a researcher, then, right?"
Y/n nodded solemnly, looking back down to the chicken she had been cooking in the red paste made up of chillies, onions and tomatoes. "Very fun, really. Do you have a favourite subject?" She glanced over to Cedric, who pummeled the bread dough she had assigned to him with a small, excited grin.
It had been over two days since she had been let out, and in those two days, it had mostly been the two of them in the house, learning new things and talking as if there was no tomorrow. Y/n had not seen Mister Scar-face since that day, yet she still felt the ghost of his presence against her side, so very warm and real.
In the two days, Y/n had taught Cedric the basics of cooking, as it turned out that he had only ever had what the camp females made them, which was mostly things that helped build muscle and strength, not necessarily great in taste.
The very first meal she had prepared for him, he had quietly stared at the food after the first bite, and then inhaled the rest as if scared it would be taken from him. The sight fueled Y/n to take up teaching cooking to him, because she knew, deep in her heart, she would not be with him one day, and she could not and would not have him rely on the mess hall food.
Cedric shrugged. "Don’t have one, honestly. But one thing I do know is that it’s definitely not physical education."
Y/n snorted. "Tell me about it. That is quite literally the worst thing to have to learn."
Cedric glanced over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. "Can you believe Emris loves it? How he’s my twin, I don’t understand."
The other two brothers, Emris and Mal, as Cedric had named them, were on a training mission. From what Y/n had learned, all the young men in the camp had been divided into groups to make learning and training easier, and unfortunately, Emris and Cedric had been put in different groups, and being one of the older warriors, Mal was called away on the trip as well.
And because it was easier that way for Emris, because in a quiet, small voice burdened by sadness, Cedric had revealed that the boy had lost his voice when he was barely a toddler.
The news weighed her down for the rest of the day before, but Cedric had woken with a new sense of joy that morning, and Y/n had no choice but to indulge him.
Apparently, Emris and Mal were returning in only a few hours, evident from the missive that had arrived early in the morning.
"What’s Emris like?" Y/n asked, stirring the pot once before abandoning it in favour of checking on the rice. "Is he like you? Or mister grumpy pants?"
Cedric choked out what sounded vaguely like a laugh. "He’s like Cal."
Y/n sighed, hanging her head with a flair of exaggeration. "That sucks. And Mal?"
Cedric thought about it for a moment. "He’s like none of us, I think, but he’s the one who looked after me the most, while Calix handled Em. Maybe that’s why he turned out like a stuck up b-"
"No cursing."
"But I’m grown up!" He shot her a pouty look, but moved on before Y/n could go on another tangent of how the only people that cursed were ones who didn’t have words to describe their feelings. "But Mal is the nicest one, out of us."
Y/n turned to watch Cedric, leaning her hips on the counter behind her. "Nicer than you? That must be one hell of a male then."
Cedric shrugged, taking a step back and pointing to the dough that he had put in the pan, indicating that it was done as he walked towards the sink. "He is. He is like the most liked one in the camp. After me, of course. He isn’t as cute as a baby who would waddle around with him on his hip."
Y/n smiled, trying to imagine the scene. A hunk of a man, from what she had heard of him, trying to look warrior-like, all tough and masculine, while walking around with a babbling baby in his arms.
Adorable.
Scar face would’ve looked the same.
Not adorable.
But who was she even kidding-
"What’s going on here?"
Y/n stiffened, glancing sideways. Speak of the devil and he doth arrive.
"Y/n was just teaching me some new things. I just finished making bread dough! We’re preparing dinner for tonight." Cedric grinned, showing off his dough to Calix, who peered into the kitchen, brows furrowed. They rose a fraction, jumping from Y/n back to his brother.
"Is that what you have been doing the past two days?"
Cedric nodded. "She also taught me how to make butter. You want to try some?"
He huffed. "No. Just came for some water."
Y/n watched as Cedric’s smile wavered, but he shrugged it off, turning away from him to place the pan of bread in the heated oven.
Y/n watched him, feeling eyes on herself but feeling too upset to return the gaze of the arsehole in the kitchen with them. Nonetheless, when the staring became a little too persistent to ignore, Y/n flicked her eyes over to the male towering in the doorway, meeting his gaze.
He stayed for another long moment, barely giving her time to try and decipher what the emotions in his eyes were. She couldn't, and then he was turning away, bottle of water in his hands.
Mentally, she rolled her eyes.
"Cedric, let’s go get some rest before they arrive, yeah? I’ll finish up the bread."
He hummed, already walking off towards the main living room through where his bedroom door opened.
Might need to drill some manners into asshole.
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Despite the strong urge to grab Calix’s collar and drag him back to apologise to Cedric, Y/n had decided to get a few moments of rest to straighten out her back in the small room she and Cedric had cleared out two days ago. While resting, she had calmed down, and then decided that it was a matter of siblings, and she, being an outsider- part of the inner circle, who had a not so pleasant reputation of meddling wherever they could get their noses into- it would have been inappropriate to dictate how they behaved towards each other.
As the sun began its descent, Y/n fixed her hair, nerves beginning to tingle in that very familiar uneasy pattern she had come to ignore for the most part.
Wings flapped outside, and Y/n stiffened up, clutching at her own fingers. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how this meeting would go. Couldn’t let herself imagine, because her mind seemed to be adamant on creating the most alarming scenarios that always ended up with her tied back up or six feet under.
Which was stupid, but she didn’t get to dwell on those thoughts as right then, the door that had been left ajar after she finished making sure she looked presentable swung open, and Cedric grinned, looking like it was impossible to be contained by his skin.
"They’re here!" He forced out between his teeth, grabbing her hands and dragging her out.
Y/n let him, because that, in that moment, felt nothing short of a miracle.
The two brothers she’d had yet to meet were standing in the foyer, shedding coats and peering curiously at the set table.
They looked up when Cedric brought Y/n out, and then froze.
A long moment passed before the taller, buffer one of the two spoke.
"Well, this is a surprise."
Y/n smiled awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say to that when he walked in, extending a hand.
Surprised, she looked up into his eyes, then back down before taking it.
"Mal."
"Y/n."
"Nice to meet you. Well, nice to meet you on your two feet, I guess."
Y/n cracked a smile at that, nodding over at Cedric. "All his magic."
Mal cocked his head, and under the light, Y/n could see the resemblance between the brothers.
Where Calix had hollows and sharp, delicate features like some sort of fallen angel, Mal had the strong, pronounced structure. Like the mother had first made Mal, and then just sculpted out a face almost similar for the younger brother.
Same features, but pronounced very differently.
Does that even make sense? No?
"You persuaded Cal?"
Cedric flexed his arms, smirking. "Yes I did."
"No he didn’t."
Y/n turned to look at Mister-Scarface walking down the stairs, eyebrow raised.
Mal dropped her hand, a slight grin on his face as he went to give Calix a half hug. "We both know who I believe more."
For some reason, Y/n felt relaxed now, more than she had before, and she turned to Emris, who hadn’t moved far from where he had been when she had fleetingly looked at him before.
The similarity between Cedric and his twin was uncanny, but still jarring considering they were formed from the same cells. Because while they shared the features, the youth, the innocence on Cedric’s face was nowhere to be seen in Emris.
Still, she quietly waved to him, hoping for some reciprocation, but he simply turned away from her, like she did not exist.
For long moments, Y/n watched as the brothers quickly greeted each other, before Cedric grabbed her arm and led everyone to the dining table, telling Mal all about the things they had done together.
Mal sat next to Y/n, Cedric on her other side, and Calix and Emris opted to sit opposite them. Mal seemed impressed, looking up at Y/n, then Cedric.
“You two made these?”
Cedric nodded, smiling proudly. It made Y/n smile too. He seemed so proud.
“Well thank the mother for not having to scarf down more unseasoned porridge.”
After that, dinner began with silence, and Y/n was glad for it, because she could just focus on not messing something up.
Calix seemed reluctant to dig in, and kept his hands to himself under the table, but seeing Mal and Cedric shovel spoon after spoon down, he slowly picked up his spoon. Emris followed silently.
Y/n did her best to hide her smile by shoving a piece of bread in her mouth, happily settling back and feeding herself too.
Nothing eventful happened, really -except for her smugly watching as Calix ate- but everyone seemed comfortable, even with her around, and later they moved to the sitting area opposite the hearth.
"Mal, tea?" Cedric asked, offering him a cup he had brewed. When, Y/n didn’t know.
Mal nodded, picking up one of the cupcakes that lay on the table.
"That's sweet, you do realise?" Calix piped up from the bottom of the stairs.
Mal raised a brow, taking a comically large bite while staring his brother down. "Not really, no."
"It’s not good for your muscle building and serves no purpose-" But Mal paid him no mind, and Calix seemed to barely be able to restrain himself from saying something more scathing, and just turned to stomp up the stairs.
"He’s always hated anything… frivolous, if you will." Mal supplied once he noticed Y/n’s eyes following Calix’s form, and she turned to him, blinking.
"Frivolous?"
He shrugged, popping the rest of the treat into his mouth. "I don’t question his bullshit."
Y/n shook her head, noticing the fact that Emris was nowhere to be seen.
"How was your- what was it? Mission?"
"Training excursion. It was alright. The usual. Can’t expect much from a group of sixteen something boys."
Y/n hummed, smiling when Cedric let out a sound of protest. "I remember when my friends used to be that age. I often wondered why I even bothered being friends with them."
Right as the words left her, Y/n wondered if that was the right thing to say, considering Calix seemed to have an aversion towards them. Who could say if Mal didn’t feel the same way?
Maybe the male noticed her gaze turning inwards, but he changed the subject.
"You’re a researcher, right?"
Y/n blinked away the haziness before nodding. "Yes."
"Never would’ve thought people could cook this well, honestly. I loved dinner. I can’t see myself willingly eating the slop in the mess hall again."
Cedric straightened. "Right? Stay with us forever then, Y/n."
Y/n smiled at his enthusiasm, but deep inside, a queasy feeling started taking root.
No matter what anyone wished for, Y/n knew that was impossible.
Calix didn’t like the inner circle, that much was clear, and so by extension, her. She already seemed to be pushing the limits of his graciousness based on the dirty looks he kept shooting her throughout the night. What action of hers did that, she couldn’t tell.
Maybe he didn’t like her getting so involved with his brothers. She could only guess.
One day -if not soon- she would have to leave. It felt like destiny.
Y/n didn’t wish to give Cedric false hope, but she nodded quietly, ears ringing.
Even if the inner circle never realised of her absence, Calix could just be fed up with her and let her go.
She played with the handle of her tea cup, watching as the surface of the drink rippled.
Just like the turmoil growing in her chest.
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