Summary: On a mission to search for an elusive beast, Aziraphale and Crowley meet again for the first time in 15 years. The two men were on the brink of a relationship back then, but parted ways. Now, brought together by coincidence, fate, or a nosey friend, they find themselves at the mercy of a man who doesn't seem to have any.
Excerpt: Shadwell looked Ezra over with an odd glint in his eye, as if Ezra had wandered in by accident. A deal had been made, perhaps too hastily in retrospect, but he had work to do. “It would be nice to know what is expected of me,” Ezra explained.
The door shut loudly behind him, causing Ezra to spin around. “There’s a bit of a situation, Doctor Fell,” Shadwell said, drawing the other man’s attention back.
“Yes, I figured that much out,” Ezra snapped.
Shadwell grumbled something under his breath and continued, “We’re trying to find something that has so far been unfindable.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m afraid I don’t know how I can help.”
“Ta be honest, I dinnae either, but I was told to bring ye along and here ye be.”
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Thank you to @cobeeli for the beautiful art!
Thanks to @ireallyneedmoretea, u/ckocek, @sspooksart, u/Risu_tem, @groovynightstrawberry, @imgoingslightlymad81, @littleweezel for the betas and cheer reads!
I had a dream, and needed to type out this snippet from the Pirate King timeline I peruse through whenever I get the craving. Thought ya'll would like it.
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“Then ‘ere must be a key.” Henson mused in his mumbling, glassy eyed way.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes or groan. Perhaps he sensed it, as I saw him drum his fingers on the hilt of his saber.
“It’s a puzzle.” I replied instead, turning back to the intricately colored, thin metal wires lacing about just below the large gem inlaid into the wall.
“Eh?” I heard him scratching the bald spot on his head again. He was going to scratch the skin clean off if he wasn’t careful.
“Just shut up and go keep watch.” I told him, waving him away. “Kurth still has men looking for us. I need time to think.”
“Lookin fer you, yeh mean.” He said. “An’ no ones been down ‘ere in years. He won’t well think to look fer you here.”
I rubbed my hands together, my heart skipping a little at the reminder. But given the trek to this gemstone, I had to imagine he was right. Still, I couldn’t help the sinking feeling that no where was safe from the High Captain’s reach until I was as far away from his port as I could be. Preferably about a hundred miles or more inland too. His smile suddenly came to my mind’s eye unbidden, and I nearly had to shake myself to tear my thoughts away. Forcing myself back to the matter at hand.
When I didn’t answer, Henson grunted, but I heard him shrug. “Suit yerself. That treasure’s cursed anyways.”
I ignored his departure from my shoulder, studying the metal wires, woven like thread, and the carvings on the wall around it. Whoever had buried this treasure really had made it the ultimate test. It wasn’t about brawn here, or daring. They had wanted everyone to see the treasure, but no one to ever be able to claim it. I would have said I was bemused by the idea, had I not been sent to find this very treasure to secure my passage. Honestly, under different circumstances, I would have left well enough alone and let its secrets stay buried. Out of respect for the original soul who had possessed it.
A pattern began to immerge as I studied the chamber, and I almost smiled as I recognized it. It was the same pattern repeated constantly throughout the veritable labyrinth we had passed through to get here. Most people wouldn’t have bothered noticing. They would have been too focused on getting to the center to claim their prize. Would have rushed bullheaded to slash at the casing to free the giant gem with their eyes flashing with greed. I assumed the person who built this place would have been tickled pink by that notion. Missing the solution right in front of their eyes.
I toed some of the old bones at the base of the wall, thinking it through for a moment. Thinking about what I would have done, if I had wanted to set this trap. After a few more minutes, I stepped forward and, with bated breath, slowly picked the first wire loose.
I almost jumped back a step, practically expecting daggers to drop from the ceiling or fire to spit from the cracks. But nothing happened. There was the dullest of clicks beyond the wall that I almost could have imagined. I glanced over my shoulder at Henson (picking his nose by the door), then turned my attention back to the wires. More confident I had solved the unsolvable riddle that no one had even bothered to realize had existed.
I stepped up close and delicately picked loose the next wire in the pattern. And was certain now I heard the soft thunk of a mechanism behind the wall. Almost grinning with delight. Even so, it would be no easy task. The wires of metal were delicate, thin, and carefully woven together. I had no doubt tugging one in the wrong order would have the whole place crashing down around our ears. Three wires later, and the tips of my fingers were already becoming sore. I looked about, shuffling the bones at my feet aside with one toe, until I found amid the old bits a long, thin metal tool with a soft wood handle. Perhaps some fishing tool, or one for picking threads from tapestries. But whatever it was or whomever it had belonged to, it would serve my purposes perfectly.
I set to work much quicker now, but still delicately. Gently teasing and unwinding the wires from each other in the same pattern. As I moved, the thunks behind the wall came rhythmically, each time I reached the end of one particular thicket of wires. I noticed as I went that the metal came apart like the seams of a coat, leaving little loops or tails lingering and seeming to split the wall itself. As if the stone and mortar were stitched together, and I was unweaving it one strand at a time.
I was so focused on my task, I didn’t notice the passage of time. Once or twice I heard the hefty, bored sigh of Henson behind me. But he left me be otherwise. Either certain I was being dramatic or completely uncaring if I succeeded or didn’t. Solely there as an unreliable reporter and guard. Eventually, I tuned even him out. Hearing only my own breath in my ears. Seeing only the wires in front of me, nimbly and patiently picking them out one at a time. Some needed a bit more persuasion to loosen their hold, and always made me think I had hit the end of my cleverness and was about to fall prey to one of the deadly traps. But it was always age, or rust, which eventually released its grip on the wire and allowed me to pry it gently free.
It struck me more than once the careful intent this puzzle had been woven with. How many had tried to force this open? Tried to pry the gem from its cast? I wondered briefly if the creator had been a woman, like me. With more patience and cleverness to outwit all the bullheaded men striding in to try to take the ‘world’s greatest treasure’, as the harbor town had called it. I hoped the original crafter would be pleased that it was I who solved the riddle, or at least amused. Some woman fished from the middle of the sea with no name and no family. Maybe that was exactly what they had wanted.
By the time I had reached the last knot, my hands were nearly quaking from the effort of the fine, delicate motions. But it made the final THUNK of the mechanism falling into place all the more satisfying. Especially as a soft hiss released from the cracks, then the rock and stone began to peel back. Like a door coming off its hinge, the edges of the stone around the giant gem swung free. And it was easy to gently swing them the rest of the way open and reveal the statuette within.
She was beautiful, a little shorter than the length of my forearm, with a soft and delicate pose encapsulating a tender moment with the slight twirk of her carved lips. She seemed to be made of gold, or perhaps a mixture of silver and gold, as she shone unlike either but without a single color throughout. I saw no seams in her design, and at her large, rounded belly, she held the giant red gem that was the only thing visible from her casing and had cost countless pirates and adventurers their lives.
I smiled at her, as it only seemed polite, and carefully checked around her base. But there were no trip wires, no pressure plates. She was ready. Gingerly, I reached in. Carefully and reverently lifting her from her perch where she must have sat for a hundred years. Running my thumb across the gem set into her stomach. Equal parts fascinated and astonished to hold it in my hands.
“What a clever girl you are.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine at the familiar voice, and I spun sharply. Clutching the statuette to my chest and feeling my heart plummet into my stomach.
Benedict stood just inside the doorway, lightly spinning his sword that still dripped fresh crimson blood onto the floor. Behind him, I could see Henson’s crumpled body, a blooming red spreading from the base of his neck down his front. I felt a jolt of guilt and regret. Henson had been an idiot, but he hadn’t deserved to die like that. No one did. But I didn’t have the luxury to properly mourn him.
I had my eyes fixed upon the High Captain, setting my lips into a tight line. He appraised me quietly for a moment more, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise as I wondered exactly how long he had been standing there. Watching me. Waiting for me to give him exactly what he wanted.
I curled my fingers even tighter around the statuette, and saw a dark smirk form at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t bother to sheath his sword. Taking long, slow steps towards me with a purposeful, sinister intent. I hid a swallow to try to dislodge the dry lump in my throat, not soothed by the dark look in his eyes or the wry twist of his lips.
“You broke our terms.” He said coolly once he was barely a few steps away.
I shook my head a little, defiantly. “I did not.” I was glad my voice did not sound as if it were pulled from a throat filled with sand, as that’s how it felt. “I was escorted to town, as were the terms… It’s not my fault we were attacked.”
“You chose to leave with them.” He replied, bringing up his sword as if considering the blood running down its length and dripping onto his knuckles gripping the pommel.
I resisted the urge to swallow again. “There was nothing in the agreement-”
“Don’t split hairs with me.” He hissed, his eyes snapping back to my face and freezing me cold. “You left. As you explicitly agreed not to do.”
“As I was forced to agree.” I half mumbled back, my tones bitter.
“You still agreed.” He pressed, then flicked his wrist to send the worst of the blood splattering off his blade before he slowly re-sheathed it. I almost winced at the sound, then barely resisted jumping as he held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
My lips tightened stubbornly, as did my arms wrapped about the statuette. The only thing valuable enough to make anyone in this godforsaken place even think about helping me. His scowl was forming in the shadows at the corners of his eyes, and he took a step forward.
“It is mine,” He almost growled, “By birthright, by compensation. However you wish to view it.” He opened and closed the fingers of his extended hand. “Give it. To. Me.”
Reluctantly, fearfully, I did slowly unwind my arms. My head spinning with his words and the meaning behind them. My heart too loud in my ears to linger on any.
He snatched the statue, then turned and gently tucked it into the satchel at his hip. Adjusting the strap over his shoulder so it sat behind him. Out of sight and reach.
I gasped as his hand suddenly shot to my throat. Forcing me back a step so that my body crashed painfully into the wall behind me.
“Since you broke your agreement,” He hissed, closing the scant space between us and leaning in close, “Then I can break mine.”
My own hands had instinctively gone to claw at his. His fingers were strong, and firm. Wrapped snugly around my neck to the point where I could still draw breath, but felt my throat constrict against his palm when I swallowed. I tugged futilely at his wrist, even trying to twist beneath his grasp and he bent over me. Slowly dropping his mouth next to my ear.
“I’ve been dying to touch you since I met you,” He purred, and his other hand came out, sliding across my waist, “And more every day since.”
I twisted and wriggled in his grasp as he pressed in closer. His body so close I could feel the heat wafting off him. Could smell nothing but the musk off his neck and the huff of his breath in my ear. I reached out and tried to push him back, my fingers curling into his lapel as I braced my forearm across his chest. His palm at my waist slowly squeezed, and I felt my knees grow weak.
“I’ve longed to know what you smell like,” He continued quietly, his voice dark and husky, “Dreamed of the taste of your mouth. Your skin. Your…”
As he dropped off with a thin huff of barely restrained desire, he reached up the thumb of his hand at my neck. Brushing it against my jaw to turn me towards him. Our mouths inches away, his breath hot on my face. I couldn’t help the way my lips parted, desperate to draw in air, struggling to think with him so close. I tried to shake my head but he stilled me with a gentle flex of his fingers at my throat.
“I’ve wanted to know the feel of your body beside mine. Against mine… Under it.” His thumb traced lightly along my jaw. “I want to feel you twist and writhe for me. Want to watch you fall apart as I explore your body, as I tease all those ideas from your clever little head. As I spend days in your bed worshiping every inch of you…” He breathed against my mouth, leaving me trembling, “I am dying for you… Yet you were so willing to leave.” His mouth nearly touched mine as he spoke, “As if this last month… meant nothing to you.” I felt the brim of his hat brush the top of my head. “I cannot sleep without dreaming of you, cannot breathe without the thought of you crossing my mind… And you can leave me. So easily.”
My heart skipped and fluttered as his fingers slowly tightened around my throat. I pushed against him with my extended arm, but I might as well have been pushing against brick. I dug my fingernails into the flesh of his hand at my throat, feeling the air constrict into the tiniest of passages beneath his fingers.
“I cannot let you leave me.”
His dark voice, soft and breathy in his whispers, sounded almost desperate. As if trying to understand something he had never seen before. Something his very life depended upon. I quivered in his grasp, at a loss for words even if I had the breath to give them. Completely immersed in his scent, his heat. Unable to think for the pressure of his body against mine, his hand around my throat. His words ringing in my ears.
I nearly toppled over a moment later as he stepped back. Releasing me as suddenly as he had first grabbed me. I gasped a little again, dizzy from the rush of air to my head. Blinking at him numbly.
“… Not yet.” He concluded flatly. Glancing off to the side. “Our deal is not finished… You still owe me two months.”
“… Until the first thaw.” I reminded him quietly after a long, belated pause, my hand slowly rubbing at my throat. Almost able to trace the feeling of his fingers around it.
He nodded slowly, his brow furrowed as he thought it over. “Yes.” I nearly jumped as his dark eyes flicked back up to me. “Come.”
I blinked at him again. My head still reeling. “Our terms-”
“Still stand.” He proclaimed even as his hand shot out again. And I nearly succeeded in swiping my hand back from him before he could grab it. Nearly. He held my tightly clasped wrist up between us. “Once we return to the manor.”
My mouth went a little dry from the implications, and I flicked my own gaze around the chambers. I grimaced as he squeezed my wrist a little harder. As if making the point he would not be letting go until then. Which meant there would be no way to slip off. No way to send a message.
I glowered at him in my frustration, but it only made a crooked smirk return to his lips.
She has arrived!! The marvelous Medusa mermaid herself! Along with her lil pirate lover boi 😂 first time drawing both of these characters and I’m very pleased with the result!! Plus it was fun creating the alternating beauty-to-beast effect 🩵💚💜 but I mean let’s be honest Cala is beauty no matter the form. Poster 5 is finally complete! Plus the previous 4 just for fun 🤩
