*Emerges from the depths of the void, drops post* See ya in another few months… maybe… *Crawls back into the void*
Cuddles 2.0
Vox Machina & Child!Reader (Kids Machina)
Pike
You could be a nervous bean more often than you’d like to admit, you loved cuddles but never know when to ask for some. Luckily Pike knows how to read your body language and is more than happy to offer cuddles with you when things aren’t crazy. With time you get braver at asking yourself but it’s always good to know that Pike can always tell when you need one.
Pike’s skill to read your emotions works effectively well on those days where you feel down and lonely, especially when you two are away from the rest of the group to fulfil your duties to Sarenrae. Pike will start by asking if you’re okay, try as you might sometime you just can’t lie to her and she’ll warmly offer to cuddle with you until you feel better.
Keyleth
Cuddles with Keyleth are the best especially when she can wild shape herself into different animals you can snuggle against. You especially love cuddling against her Minxie form, feeling the soft fur under you as you snuggle up to her while she curls around you protectively.
While Keyleth has had her own share of down days, she can’t stand to see the downtrodden look on your face when your mood is low. She’ll scoop you up and hold you close, telling you stories or even singing to an old lullaby she remembers her mother singing to her when she was little. You relax into her after a while as you listen to her and she can’t help feel some pride at how much you trust and depend on her.
Vex
You liked cuddles but didn’t always show it seeing as Vex wasn’t always one for cuddling, thankfully Trinket was. The bear always happy and willing to give you snuggles when Vex was busy. Sometimes while you’re cuddling Trinket, Vex will sneak in and join in, making the cuddle pile extra special.
On days where your condition strongly affects you and you’re feeling useless, Vex will be there to reassure you and hold you in her embrace for as long as you need, telling you over and over that you’re not useless and that she’s happy you’re here with her. Her reassuring words to you always help lift your spirits more and make the bad days more bearable.
Vax
Vax likes his time alone, you understand this, you like your alone time too, but sharing some cuddles every now and again is always nice. The only few times you’ve interrupted his alone time for snuggles are the times he’s in an extra standoffish and distant mood, wanting to lift his mood, it always works or at least helps him feel better.
When you’re the one in a down and distant mood Vax will give you some space at first, give you time to come to him. You eventually do but don’t say anything, letting him talk to you, not about what the issue is, no he won’t push you for that, he’ll sit with you and talk about what he did or how he outwitted Grog in their latest “game”. Slowly but surely making you feel better, while he feels a sense of pride for perking you up again.
Grog
You’re a small, fragile child who likes sharing hugs, he’s a large, powerful goliath who could snap you like a twig if he’s not careful. Thankfully, for both of you, Gorg’s had lots of practice with handling smaller beings
Grog can have a hard time understanding feelings. Especially when you get stubborn and say you’re fine, he accepts that answer until one of the others tells him that you’re 100% not fine. He’s confused, you said you were fine but you were lying? Why would you do that? He doesn’t know exactly what to do so he’ll just scoop you up and keep you close to him until you’re actually feeling better.
Percy
Percy isn’t a touchy feely man always busy, always tinkering. Being his apprentice you get to stay close to him so you could deal with not getting cuddles or hugs. Occasionally when a project of your own goes well and tests successfully he’ll proudly ruffle your hair, it wasn’t much but you’ll take what you can get.
Some days you just don’t feel motivated or worthy of being Percy’s apprentice. When he notices, and he will notice, you’re not in the workshop with him he will drop everything to find you. When he locates where you’re hiding he’ll just talk to help you get your mind off of your troubles and doubts because he knows better then anyone that you are worthy and he couldn’t have asked for a better apprentice.
Scanlan
He’s tried not to get close to you, didn’t want to give the wrong message to whoever he’s flirting with but after that time you called him dad he’s become more open to it, if only a little bit. Scanlan hadn’t realized just how much he’d enjoy something as simple as a hug, sure he’s spent the night with many women, but that pales in comparison to the genuine parental connection he felt when you’d hug him.
When you’d feel sad or upset about something he’s there to cheer you up, with a joke, story or song, anything to see your cheery face again. To the rest of the team’s shock he’s even brushed off ladies who openly tried flirting with him because he saw your watery eyes and pouting expression.
Hi, I’ve been obsessed with your writing for a while, and I was wondering if you would write a final part to Far From Home where the reader goes to Tal’Dorei with Allura and the rest of the Mighty Nein after the events at Cognouza and finds Vox Machina again?
Oooooo~ I hadn’t thought about those fics in a while. You are absolutely right, a reunion must be had!
If anyone’s in need of a refresher here’s Part 1 and Part 2
Far From Home (Finale)
Vox Machina/Mighty Nein & Child!Reader
It’s been quite some time since your time travelling escapade, and at least month since your finale battle in Cognouza, the world may not know what you’ve all accomplished but you sure did. As a way to help wind down and move to the next chapter in your lives Allura had invited you all to come to a party in Tal’Dorei, it was possibly a way to share stories and make new connections. Either way you were super excited to go, only feeling a little bummed out when Caduceus said he wouldn’t be joining, only to perk up again as the both of you agreed that you’d tell him all about it once you got back.
Thanks to Caleb’s photographic memory he was able to construct a teleportation circle right to Allura’s tower, of course being sure to have Jester send a message to her in advance as to not shock the woman with an unexpected visit. With things set up and everyone ready Caleb casts the spell and you all step through the portal. The first thing you do is run up to one of the windows and look outside, last time you were here with the Nein you didn’t get the chance to see the city and you’ve been curious. Thanks to the height of the tower you got a good view of the whole city, finally getting to see just how beautiful it looked, defiantly a stark difference to burning and broken buildings. Then you saw it, a short distance from the city stood a lone fortress, the one you were sure was where you followed those other adventurers to safety.
“(Y/n).” Kingsley’s voice pulls you from your thoughts. “Come on, you’re supposed to be my resident know it all. Are you really going to stare into dreamland and leave me to my own devices?” He playfully questions.
“You’d leave to your own devices even if I was paying attention.” You retaliate with a soft punch to his leg, he feigns being hurt by the “attack” making you both start laughing. Looking back to the others you notice Allura now preparing another spell, guess this party wasn’t being held in Emon. Another trip through a portal and you were somewhere completely new.
“Welcome to Whitestone Castle.” This woman looked too fancy to be a simple attendant. “You must be the Mighty Nein, Allura’s told us a bit about you, my name’s Vesper, if you would please follow me to the grand hall.” She then leads everyone to where the party was held. Of course Caleb, Beau and Fjord had their fair share of questions along the way.
“Are you okay? You look a little, umm… nervous.” Yasha asks with concern, pulling in your attention.
“Huh? Oh, uhhhh, yeah I’m okay. Just looking at everything.” You reply.
“Okay, if you need me to carry you just ask.” She gives you a pat on the head. She did technically have a point, you were feeling a little nervous, after all those adventurers you met, Vox Machina you now recalled, could be here. Although would that actually matter, sure those memories are still fresh in your mind but for them it’s been years, did they even remember you? Honestly you didn’t think so, you didn’t do much during your stay in the past and defiantly nothing noteworthy to be remembered by, it wouldn’t be surprising if you did meet them and they saw you as just some kid at the party.
You could hear the chattering of party goers before stepping into the main hall. No one wastes any time splitting up and conversing with others. Beau doing what she does best getting intel with Yasha close beside her, Caleb’s still chatting with Allura and Kima, Jester was trying to convince Fjord to dance with her, Veth doing about the same with Yeza, Kingsley had just disappeared from view entirely hopefully not getting into too much trouble. Unsure what to do yourself you settled for the easy choice of going to the snack table, however as you approached you can’t help but notice the bear just sitting casually next to it. Switching gears you walk up to the bear, trying to remember his name.
“Trek… no. Tricky… no, that doesn’t sound right either.” You mumble, getting the bears attention. He lifts his head and sniffs the air, tilting his head curiously at you before leaning a little closer and puffing air in your face, making you giggle and refresh your memory. “Trinket!” You say proudly, as if understanding you he nods, relaxing his head and letting you pet him. While petting him you catch sight of a beautiful half-elf with antlers resting on her head, you recognized her, she was the one you thought was a princess… Keyleth, that was her name. You weren’t sure how you should say hello to her, still wondering if she remembered you. Shaking you head to clear your thoughts you take a breath and just go for it.
“Excuse me?” You tug lightly on her dress to get her attention. “Are you a princess?” It was a strange icebreaker, but it was the first thing you’d asked her when you first met, a part of you thinking that maybe it’ll refresh her memory. She turns and looks at you about to say something, but when her eyes meet yours she pauses, a surprised look on her face.
“I-It’s you.” She practically whispers, the recognition in her voice makes you tilt your head in confusion, did she actually remember? You had hope they would but didn’t actually expect them to.
“You… you remember me?” You ask, wanting solid confirmation. This makes her smile as she nods, kneeling down to match with your height.
“I do! Wait… come with me a minute, the others have to see this.” She gets up and offers you her hand, after a moment of hesitation you place your hand in hers and let her guide you to where two familiar gnomes were talking to a goliath, Pike, Scanlan and Grog as you recalled. “Guys! Guys! Look who came to visit.” She calls for them.
“Uhhh, hi.” You greet awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say.
“Hello tiny child.” Grog greets back.
“Uhh, sup kid.” Scanlan looks at you as if trying to recall something.
“Hello… Hold on a second, you look… familiar.” Pike takes a good long look at you, her eyes then brighten up in recognition. “Wait! You’re the child that came from the future, or well present now. It was (y/n), right?”
“Yeah! I didn’t think you guys would remember me.” You say still a little shocked.
“Remember who?” Grog asks confused, so he didn’t remember but that seemed reasonable anyways.
“Don’t worry yourself about it big guy.” Pike pats his arm.
“Oh yeah!” Scanlan perks up. “I remember now! Your the one who said you saw my name on a book once.” You give a nod and he smiles brighter. “Well I’m glad to say you spoke correctly because I do indeed have a book. One minute!” With that he disappears into the crowd as two others approach.
“What’s all the commotion about?”
“Percy, you owe me 50 gold.” Pike lightly jabs him, a smug look on her face.
“For what exactly?” He raises a curious eyebrow at her. Pike gestures to where you’re standing, his eyes widening in shock. “What…? It-it can’t be.” The words slip out in a near whisper.
“You’re Percy, right? You’re the one who said I was making up I was from the future.” He stares at you dumbfounded, the half-elf with him kneels down to your level.
“Do you remember who I am?” She asks, an expectant look on her face. You think about it for a moment, before giving her a smile and nod.
“Your Vex! You own that really nice bear, Trinket!” You say happily, she chuckles at your enthusiasm.
“Yes, he is a very loveable companion isn’t he.” She replies.
“Umm…” You look around at all of them, feeling like something was missing, or someone. “Wasn’t there one more with you? He looked a lot like you.” You question, Vex’s expression drops.
“That’s a long story little one, but he’s… no longer with us…” She trails off saddened making you frown.
“Oh,” you stare at your feet and fidget with your fingers. “I’m sorry. I know how that feels...” You also trail off in reminiscence. Vex places a hand on your shoulder both in comfort and reassurance, you softly smile back. “Oh!” You suddenly realize something. “I wanna ask something.” They all give you a nod to continue. “Okay, ummm… Why do you remember me? It was super long ago for you guys, I thought you’d just forget.”
“Well you see-“
“(Y/n)! There you are, we were wondering where you ran off to.” Before they could answer they’re interrupted by Caleb walking over, joined soon after by the others in your group.
“Ah! I assume you’re the ones this child belongs to?” Percy asks quizzically.
“We apologize for their wandering, didn’t mean to interrupt your evening.” Fjord scratches the back of his neck nervously.
“No need, we’ve been enjoying their company and reminiscing a little.” Keyleth pipes up, getting some confused looks from the Nein.
“I’m back! Found what I was looking for!” Scanlan makes a sudden reappearance. “Here ya go!” He hands you a book. “It’s a personally sighted copy of my book. I don’t know if you ever got around to reading it after our previous meeting so now you have a copy of your own and bragging rights to all your friends that the author personally gave it to you.” Scanlan says proudly.
“Hold on. Reminisce? Previous meeting? (Y/n), what have you been up to?” Beau looks at you with a curious but firmly expression.
“Allow us to explain.” Vex steps in catching everyone’s attention. “You see about 20 years or so ago we were under attack by a powerful group of dragons calling themselves the Chroma Conclave. It was shortly after the initial attack on Emon that we found a lost, self proclaimed time traveller.” You look away slightly sheepish.
“At the time we weren’t fully aware of this, but we did know they braved the possibility of the dragons detection to save a comrade and friend of ours.” Percy adds. “And when they did tell us, some didn’t exactly believe their words, brushing it off as childish make believe.”
“We were able to send them home, unsure if it was actually the future or just across the world.” Pike gives you a knowing smile. “Either way, they left us with something vital from that point onward.” Now they really had your attention, wondering just what you could’ve left behind in your short time with them. Keyleth kneels next to you again, a bright look in her eyes.
“You gave us hope.” She says.
“Hope?” You question, utterly confused. “How? I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, dear.” Vex jumps in again. “Despite some of us still being sceptical,” she gives a quick glance at Percy, “the idea of someone from the future, a child no less, looking as well and even cheerful as they were in those hard times, well… it gave us that extra drive to see that future come to light.”
“It wasn’t just the dragons either.” Keyleth speaks up again. “After the Conclaves defeat there were still times where victory felt so far out of reach that I almost believed it was hopeless but then, remembering how you smiled when you asked if I was a princess reignited why we needed to keep fighting.”
“Not to mention, I couldn’t just hear how I’d made a fantastic book in the future only to not write it, that’s absurd! I had to see it come to light.” Scanlan flourishes with a dramatic pose, this gets a light laugh from the rest of Vox Machina.
“I remember that day.” Caleb says after they quiet down. “It was supposed to be a spell for gaining a long rest without much time passing, at the time it was still in development and my… colleague and I lost control of it. I know (y/n) told us as much as they could, but still, I never would’ve guessed this to be the result.”
“Well, I’d like to thank you for such an odd mishap. Who knows how different things could’ve turned out for us if they hadn’t appeared.” Pike thanks. You’re an embarrassed mess, even after all this time you still weren’t exactly used to so much attention, at least not to this degree. You never thought your mere presents all those years ago would affect such a big piece of history… but then again if they hadn’t achieved victory in the first place how different could things have that you wouldn’t have been thrown into the past to spark this hope… it was starting to hurt your brain too much to think about. (paradoxes baby’s!)
“Look at you!” You’re pulled away from your thoughts by Jester picking you up. “Being a brave hero all by yourself.” She twirls you around before squishing you against her and giving little bunny kisses, the both of you giggling as a result.
“You never told me you were a time traveller!” Kingsley says shocked, stealing you away from Jester. “Tell me everything.” With another laugh you start to recount your adventure with him.
“They’re a special kid.” Vex says, watching you happily chatting with Kingsley, Jester and Veth. “You should proud.”
“Oh trust us, we know.” Beau says, glancing over at you, you wave at at all of them.
I know I know, such a creative title, anyways… Requested by the wonderful @sirkekselord: So what if Percy's adopted kid tries on his mask
You wander the halls of Greyskull searching for your favourite gunslinger, he hadn’t been in the workshop so you figured he may be in his room. When you’ve reached your destination you were disappointed to see that he was still nowhere in sight, although something else caught your attention that draws you into the room for a closer look. Resting on top of a chest at the foot of Percy’s bed was his old bird shaped mask, you never fully understood the point or design of the thing but never really felt the need to question it either, it looked cool and that was the end of story to you. Yet there was something about it just sitting alone, out in the open that felt a bit odd to you, but you figured it was just because you were so used to it being on Percy’s person that anywhere else just seemed out of place. Without much thought you pick up the item and look it over, marvelling at the intricate designs Percy put into it not only to make it look cool but functional, smiling to yourself as you thought about all the time and heard work he must’ve put into this thing to make it just right, still didn’t quite understand the bird shape but minor details. All in all it was fine piece, something you strived for when creating your own inventions, but you were getting ahead of yourself, after all you’ve only examined the exterior design of the mask when the interior was probably the most important part. No surprise though when you see the interior was made just as thoroughly as the exterior.
Let’s be honest, you’ve spent plenty of time examining the mask, at this point you were just sorta playing with the item, completely forgetting why you’d come here in the first place as you stare the mask down. You’ve turned this thing over and over in your hands but now a new curiosity settled in: why not try the mask on for yourself? There was no harm after all, it’s just a mask, Percy’s mask and being his apprentice you wanted to feel every bit as cool as he was. Adjusting the straps at the back as best as possible you slip the mask on and have a look around, it was big, obviously being made to fit Percy’s head instead of yours but you’d managed to tighten the straps enough to avoid it easily sliding off your head. It felt a little weird too, the weight of it making you feel slightly imbalanced but you stabilize yourself and started striking poses, pretending your hands were guns and that you were fighting off any bad guys that got in your way. Footsteps are heard down the hall, thinking this to be an amazing opportunity you stand at the ready awaiting their approach.
“I thought I closed thi-” Percy stops short at the sight in front of him. You, smiling under the mask, had spun around and aimed your “weapon” at him.
“Pew pew! I got you now!” You giggle, only to stop when you notice he doesn’t respond. You look up at him again and instead of seeing mild amusement mixed with some annoyance like you expected, you saw nothing but wide eyed terror on his face, his breathing becoming much heavier. “Percy are you okay?” Now confused and concerned you step closer, reaching towards him. Bad idea as he steps away in retaliation, tripping himself and falling to the ground only furthering your confusion when he grips at his head and… wait… was he hyperventilating!?
“Percy! Percy! What’s wrong?” You throw off the mask, discarding it who knows where as you try to shake him back into reality. Had you done something to upset him? You must’ve, you haven’t seen him this panicked in a long time and it only happened because of something you did. Man, where was someone like Vex or Pike to help when you needed it. “Dad please! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you upset! I’m sorry…” Tears spill from your eyes as you apologize for whatever it is you did wrong. You cling to him as you continue to sob, murmuring apologies the whole time. It feels like forever before a hand gently places itself on the back of your head making you lift it up to look over at Percy, who was still calming his breathing. You wipe some of your tears to get a better look, he seemed to be examining you for a second a hint of fear still in his eyes but they soften soon enough.
“You’re not… oh, thank the Devines you’re not…” He sighs in relief and holds you closer to him, you quickly return the embrace. After another minute or two of a much more comfortable silence Percy stands, you getting up alongside him. He walks over to where you had thrown his mask and very slowly picks it up before walking into his room, you stand there unsure if you should follow until he ushers you inside as well. You sit yourself on the edge of the bed and patiently wait for him. “Why…” he pauses a second to breathe. “Why did you have this?”
“I don’t know.” You mumble as you fiddle with your fingers.
“(Y/n) please. I know this sounds ridiculous to you but I have to know, why were you wearing this?” He asks more firmly, though it was easy to tell this was out of concern rather then anger.
“I… I just wanted to be like you.” Once again tears begin to fall from you, doing what you can to wipe them away. Percy let’s out a soft sigh as he sets the mask down and sits next to you, rubbing your shoulder for comfort.
“I appreciate the intention, truly, but…” He looks over at the mask again with a small glare. “That is time in my life I do not wish to see replicated. You remember how I acted anytime I wore that… what took control of me… don’t you?” Look between him and the mask a second before nodding slowly. “So then you must understand now how I felt suddenly seeing you wearing it, with all the implications behind it.” Again you give a slow nod. “I’m not angry if that’s what you’re worried about. I just don’t… I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you. Just promise me… promise me you will never put that mask on again, alright?”
“I promise.” You look directly at him with glossy eyes as you say this, he wipes away a few of the remaining tears from your face.
“Good. Now why don’t we head down to our workshop, I’ve got a few blueprints I’d like to look over with you.” He suggests, helping to boost your mood again. You hop off the bed and make for the door taking a quick look over your shoulder at him.
“Well c’mon those blueprints aren’t going to look over themselves.” You say smile, Percy chuckles at your renewed eagerness.
Would you be willing to do one where the child calls the vox machina mom/ dad like you did for the M9?
I would be absolutely delighted to
You Call them Mom/Dad 2.0
Vox Machina & Child!Reader (Kids Machina)
Pike
Pike had taken you in as an acolyte when she found you abandoned outside her home, you were so young but showed great interest and potential in the worship of Sarenrae. Soon enough though she quickly turned from being just a mentor to being a parental figure towards you. She mostly taught you spells aimed more towards healing and support, but did show you how to use a few damaging spells, not wanting you caught in the fray of battle but still able to defend yourself if you had to. After casting a successful Guiding Bolt followed by a Cure Wounds on Grog, who agreed to be your "punching bag" (his words not yours), she gives you a cheer and applause.
"That was really well done, you'll be surpassing me in skill in no time." She says with a smile.
"Thanks mama, I’m gonna be the bestest healer you’ve ever seen one day." You say with a happy giggle, but pause when you see her shocked expression. "What’s wrong?" You tilt your head at her, worried you may have said something wrong. She shakes her head, her smile returning brighter then before.
"No, no nothing's wrong. I ummm, just wanted to know if I heard you correctly. Did you… did you just call me mama?" She looks you in the eyes, a hopeful sparkle in hers.
"Uhh, uhh… maybe?" You scratch at the back of your head and look away embarrassed until you feel yourself get lifted up and spun around before being placed down again.
"Does this mean I’m an uncle now?" You hear Grog ask off to the side, you both stare at him and laugh a little, leaving him very confused.
Keyleth
Zephrah was a beautiful place and with the Chroma Conclave defeated you finally got a chance to see it all for yourself, Keyleth all too eager to show you around her home. The view was amazing, seeing mountain peaks through different layers of clouds, or watching the skysailors ride along the winds. The plant life was lush and bright be it from farmers cultivating the land or the fact that you were so close to one of the elemental planes portals. You hear Keyleth let out a light laugh beside you and look up at her with curious eyes.
"What’s so funny?" You ask. She kneels down and smiles at you, booping your nose, now making you giggle.
"Not much really. It’s just seeing all that wonder in your eyes, I couldn’t contain my own joy I guess." She replies.
"It’s so pretty here, thank you for showing me around mom." You comment without thinking, just letting yourself take in the view again.
"Wha-what did you just call me?" Her voice comes out softly making you turn to her with concern. She had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were starting to well up with tears.
"Ah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you upset." You apologize in a small panic, only to stop when you’re pulled into a bit of an awkward hug due to your positions. Keyleth quickly adjusting herself to make the hug more comfortable.
"No no, please don’t apologize. These are happy tears, I promise." She assures, there was a small shake to her voice. "I never thought you’d come to see me as your mother, that’s all." When she finishes her sentence you finally bring your arms up to return the hug, feeling her hair tickle your nose a little as you snuggle into her.
"You’re weird in all the best ways to me, and lots of fun too. You do all these cool druid tricks, like turn into animals and you always know how to help me fall asleep when I can’t. I know you’re not always perfect but I don’t want you to be, I like you as yourself." You say with a big, proud smile.
"You’re going to make me cry again." She says, taking a moment of pause to collect herself. "You know what? I like you as yourself too, because I don’t have to worry about how I act with you around… since you’re more clumsy then me." She jokes a little making you playfully push away from her.
"Am not!" You argue with a fake pout before smiling again.
"Are too." She boops your nose again. "Come on, we should head back before Vax starts to wonder where we went." She stands up, keeping you secure in her arms as you make your way back to the village.
Vex
You aimed your bow unsteadily at the target, missing completely when you try and take a shot, letting out a sigh you turn to Vex.
"It’s too hard, I can’t do it." You pout, rubbing the soreness out of your arms.
"Not every shot's going to be perfect at first dear. That’s no reason to give up." Vex soothes walking over and helping you notch an arrow. "Try one more time and then we can take a break, okay?" She encourages.
"Okay." You replay with a small nod, pulling back the string and shakily taking aim.
"Remember, relax yourself a little, deep breaths, keep both eyes open and keep your sight set on where you want to hit your target." She advises. You do your best to follow her instructions before firing the arrow, watching it soar through the air and finally strike into the target. It was no bullseye but that didn’t matter to you, you actually hit the target and you were ecstatic about that.
"I did it! I did it! Did I you see that momma! I finally hit it!" You beam in pure excitement, not noticing Vex’s shocked expression. When you look back over to her you tilt your head to the side with a worried look. "Are you okay momma?"
"Momma?" She lightly clasps a hand over her mouth. You feel even more worried when you hear the shake in her voice but before you can say anything she speaks up again. "You see me as your mother?"
"I didn’t mean to make you upset." You turn your gaze to the ground and shrink into yourself a little. "I won’t call you it again, I promise." You finish feel bad but she quickly kneels down and cups your face to have you look at her again.
"No, don’t say that dear. I’ll happily be your mother, if you want me to." Now you’re the one staring up at her in shock before you beam at her again and wrap your arms around her neck in a hug. She places a soft kiss to the top of your head and lifts you up, bringing the both of you back into Greyskull Keep for a much needed break (and so Vex could brag to her brother, but who's keeping track).
Vax
Vax had been really quiet and much more reserved then usual lately, avoiding people and locking himself away for long periods of time. You were getting really worried about him, missing your favourite rouge. You approach the door to his room and do a special knock to let him know it’s you without having to say it outright. After a minute of silence you sigh and are about to turn and leave when you hear some faint shuffling, the soft click of the lock and more faint shuffling. You open the door cautiously and peek your head inside seeing Vax sitting on his bed looking deep in thought, you softly close the door and pad your way over, climbing onto the bed to join him. You sit in silence for a while, you didn’t really have anything planned to say if he let you in so you just sat next to him and play with your fingers, trying to find something to say.
"Why come all this way if you’re only going to sit here and do nothing?" Vax asks, looking down at you with a raised eyebrow. You furrow your own eyebrows at the question as the room falls silent again, after a few minutes of this you scoot yourself closer to him and lean against his side, feeling him tense up at the sudden contact before relaxing again.
"Well, why not? You haven’t been around for a while so who’s going to teach me about picking pockets to dumb rich people, or who’s going to help me mess with Grog and… and I miss you." You say with a slight giggle looking up at him, he doesn’t look back, only letting out a sigh.
"You really don’t have to, I don’t want you to waste your time pitying me." There was a slight bitterness in his tone and it made you upset that he thought this about himself.
"But-"
"But nothing! I don’t need a child’s pity." He blurts out unexpectedly, you frown scooting away, shrinking into yourself feeling like you did something wrong and upset him further.
"I-I’m sorry papa, I didn’t mean to make you angry. I’ll go." You mumble, lowering your head before sliding off the bed and walking to the door. You’re about to turn the knob when he pipes up again.
"Wait." Slowly turning back around he was finally looking back at you with a look of utter guilt, one arm outstretched towards you beckoning you back. When you shuffle back to the foot of the bed he gently lifts you up and places you on his knee, using his thumbs to wipe the tears in your eyes. "Did I hear you correctly? Do you really see me as your father?" He asks in a soft voice, you give a tiny nod.
"I’m sorry." You say just as softly.
"No don’t say that. I’m the one who's sorry, I let my thoughts blind me from what’s important here." You look up at him again with big, glistening eyes and see a small but genuine smile on his face. "I’ll happily be your father, and I promise to do all I can to protect you and treat you as you deserve." There’s a new sense of purpose to his tone that helps place a smile on your own face as you cuddle into his side.
Grog
Bars aren't really the place for a child to be, now on one hand you were with Grog so you knew you'd be safe no matter what, on the other hand… you were with Grog so trouble was close to follow regardless. The bar you found yourselves in, you couldn’t remember its name for the life of you, probably something dumb anyways, had its own little pit dug out for brawls and of course Grog took full advantage of that.
"Come on! Is that the best you lot can do!" Grog challenges as he easily wins another brawl, pounding his fists together waiting for anyone else to test their luck. Meanwhile you were sitting off to the side happily watching the show and drinking some milk, apparently they didn’t know what water was here, but they had milk? You didn’t understand the barkeeps logic but at least you still had something to drink.
"Well now, what’s a tiny thing like you doing 'ere?" A burly half-orc asks, you did not like the tone he had. You shuffle uncomfortably as you try to figure out what to tell them.
"I-I’m here watching my papa beat up meanies like you!" You say with some confidence, the half-orc snorts at your comment.
"Right, and just who would be able to do that wif a weak little thing like yerself as their kid?" He teases, leaning uncomfortably close to you. A hand is placed on the half-orc's shoulder and he’s quickly turned around coming face to face with Grog.
"What did you just call my little warrior?" Grog growls, having seen the entire thing, a rage starting to boil in his eyes. The half-orc shrinks into himself a little but quickly proceeds to puff out his chest.
"You ‘eard me-" Before he’s able to continue Grog grabs them by the skull and slams them against the table, effectively breaking it into pieces. He then reaches over and picks you up gently, easily holding you in one hand and walks out of the bar, a very shocked crowd of patrons staring as you left. He doesn’t say anything at first and you didn’t know what to say, so you settle for snuggling a little more into his secure hold.
"Did you mean it?" You suddenly hear him say, you give him a doe eyed stare in slight confusion. "I know I’m not… the best, but do you really think I’m a good papa?" He asks genuinely, his eyes no longer showing anger but curiosity and concern, not something you see often from the goliath.
"Of course!" You beam up at him. "You’re always super fun and funny to be around, and I know I’ll always be safe when I’m with you." You reply hugging his arm since it was the only thing you could wrap your arms around, even then they didn’t completely connect. Grog has to hold back the tears from the feeling of pride welling up inside him at your statement.
Percy
You sit mesmerized as you watch Percy work, effortlessly switching between tools while he tinkered away at his invention. Normally people weren’t allowed to be in his workshop while he was "in the zone" but you were a special acceptation, I mean how else was his little apprentice going to learn anything without seeing the work in action.
"Grab me a fine tipped star screwdriver." He says mindlessly, he wouldn’t admit it aloud but having you around, willing to help grab tools for him while he worked was greatly appreciated. You reach behind you, already knowing where it is and grab the requested item.
"Here you go, dad!" You chirp happily, handing over the screwdriver. He takes it from your grasp and continues to work away at the device. You continue to watch until he pauses abruptly, nearly dropping the items in his hands before carefully setting them down. You look at him concerned as he slowly turns to look at you.
"What did you just call me?" He asks, genuine shocked. You tilt your head in confusion, did you say something wrong that upset him? But what could you have said? You replay your previous sentence until you realize what accidentally slipped out, your own eyes widening in shock.
"I umm, I was… I just… I don’t know…" You stutter and trail off slightly embarrassed. Percy let’s out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair.
"How?" He mutters just loud enough for you to hear, you look at him confused. "How could you ever see me as a father… after everything I’ve done?" He looks back at you waiting for some kind of answer. You, having shaken off your embarrassment, don’t take long to answer.
"You did bad things, and sometimes still do them, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. You helped me, taught me everything I know and let me watch you do your work, which is awesome!" You say with a large smile. "Besides, I’d pick you over my real dad any day." You mumble out that last part, subconsciously rubbing your side. You feel a hand place itself on your shoulder, looking over you see Percy had kneeled down to your height, a small smile on his face. You take advantage of his position and give him a hug, he tenses at first but after a few seconds relaxes into the gesture. He wouldn’t admit it aloud but having you around was something he greatly appreciated.
Scanlan (this is set a little before he met Kaylie)
Scanlan was not the greatest influence, yet no matter how much the rest of Vox Machina tried you just couldn’t help but hang around him and look up to him. He always snuck you a little something to drink when no one was looking, he was tons of fun and really funny, great at singing and making up songs, and even if it wasn’t explicitly shown he did care a lot. He was fine with you hanging around, kids were great chick magnets, what he didn’t expect was just how much you came to look up to him. You were sitting on a barstool while he smooth talked with the bartender, humming a little tune to yourself for self entertainment.
"You know babe, why don’t we ditch early and have a much better talk in my room." You overhear him say, laying on the charm.
"But papa, you promised we’d get a treat first." You blurt out without much thought. To get you to help pull in the ladies Scanlan often promised a walk around the market and either a frozen treat or baked good as payment.
"What?!" Scanlan having completely forgotten you were there wipes around, nearly falling out of his seat, and looks at you with wide eyes.
"Aww, that’s really sweet," the bartender who showed some interest shifts their gaze onto you. "What a nice dad, taking there kid out for a treat, I wouldn’t want to intervene." With that the bartender walks away to tend to another costumer.
"I-ju-bu-ahhh!" Scanlan for once was at a complete lose of words, stumbling over himself to try and regain his composure. "You did that on purpose!" Once he could find his words again he gives you a sharp look.
"Did what on purpose?" You look at him innocently. His demeanour deflates at your genuine curiosity, again finding himself lost for words, constantly opening and closing his mouth with no sound coming out. He shakes himself off and takes a breath.
"You can’t be serious kid. I’m not your dad."
"So?" You tilt your head questioningly.
"So, why do you see me like I am?" He flings his arms up in exaggeration.
"I don’t know, a dad is supposed to be fun and caring, right? That’s what you are to me." You shrug, not really sure how to explain yourself.
"I uhh, huh…" He places a hand under his chin in thought. "You know, I never really thought about it like that." It goes silent again after that but not in an uncomfortable way.
"Sooo…" You cut into the silence, regaining his attention. "Can I get that treat now?" You ask, really looking forward to whatever sweet delight you’d get. Scanlan laughs at the change of subject and your eagerness.
"Sure thing kiddo." He says patting your back. "Whatever you want."
At long last part 2 has arrived! If anyone needs a refresh of part 1, click here. I’m really sorry this one took me so long, but after finishing the show I’ve regained the motivation to finish this. This follows the timeline a bit more from the Campaign but I sorta switched to follow with the show, it all still works narratively so I’m not complaining. Anyways, I really hope the wait was worth it. Enjoy! 😁
You skillfully weave your way around the tunnels heading to a different exit then the one you normally use seeing as you now had new friends with you and that wouldn’t look too good to the guards patrolling the area. As you traveled you learned more about what’s all happened, who your brothers friends all were and what you had become. While this was all explained carefully and very simply to you, it was still defiantly a lot of new information to take in at once. As you continue forward the strange sensation you’d get from time to time was starting to act up again, you lightly clutch your stomach in hopes of calming the feeling down to no avail.
"(Y/n), are you alright? You’re not looking too well." Percy furrows his brow, slight concern on his face. You give a nod and turn away from him slightly only to feel him grip your shoulder and stop you in your tracks. "You’re not lying to me are you?" He asks more firmly, you shrink in on yourself a little and give a small whine. "(Y/n)." He sounded very stern, you felt embarrassed for not knowing how to answer properly and if you were able to blush your face would’ve been beet red from the embarrassment.
"I-I don’t know." You mange to stutter out.
"You don’t know." He repeats, you shake you head in confirmation.
"Can you explain to us what your feeling right now darling, maybe that’ll help." Vex suggests. You think about it for a second, you knew the feeling would go away by itself eventually but with everything else you’ve been learning maybe it would be better to tell them.
"Okay," you take in a breath. "I have this, ummm, weird feeling that pops up sometimes and it’s really annoying until it goes away by itself." You fiddle with your fingers as you speak to try and distract yourself from the slowly growing sensation.
"What about this feeling is weird, like how would you describe it?" Keyleth asks.
"It’s uhhh, it’s kinda like feeling hungry, but not hungry at the same time."
"We're going to need a little more of a description then that." Vex presses.
"I don’t know what else to say, it just feels like I’m hungry but when I eat food it still doesn’t go away." You shrug, why did they have to ask such hard questions, it’s not like you could magically make an answer appear.
"Alright then." Vex lets out a sigh and is about to speak again but Pike beats her to it.
"So you say this feeling goes away by itself. Does it just disappear randomly, does something have to happen first, what do you do to make it go away?" This was starting to feel ridiculous to you, it wasn’t easy to just tell them what was wrong because you didn’t know either, it was something you just dealt with feeling and moved on once it went away. You shake those thoughts away, you'd been living a lie this whole time and they wanted to help make things better so you had to do your best to help them too.
"Well I was told to just ignore it, so I do but then I pass out from how bad it gets, and then I wake up and the feeling's gone."
"Sounds reasonable to me." Grog says before being slapped in the gut by Vax.
"Yeah, I don’t think it’s that simple big guy, is there anything else you might be forgetting to tell us." You really didn’t want to say anything more, afraid you’d just sound stupid, but you had to at least try.
"Well, when I wake up I always have this funny, metal-y taste in my mouth." You started off strong, only to deflate and talk more in a murmur as you finish.
"Sorry, what was that last bit?" Scanlan looks at you confused. You pout not wanting to repeat yourself but with a stern look and raised eyebrow from your brother you cave and repeat yourself, louder this time so everyone could hear you.
"I see… I think I know what the problem is." Percy speaks up again.
"You do?!" You perk up a bit. "Do you know how to make it go away?" There’s a moment of pause as he hesitates before answering.
"In a sense of the word, yes." He takes in a heavy breath. "Come with me for a moment."
"Percy, are you sure about this?" Vex quickly jumps in, concern written on her face. Did they know something you didn’t?
"It should be fine, hopefully. Just give us a few minutes, I’ll even yell Jenga if something goes wrong." You stare at them confused, what was Jenga supposed to mean? Before you could dwell more on your thoughts your ushered a ways away from the group by Percy and take a seat against the tunnel wall. It’s quiet for a second before he speaks up again.
"You’re now well aware of what’s become of yourself, correct?" You nod at this, not sure where he was going with this. "Right, and you still remember those old tales about what they do to survive, do you not?" You nod again, still a little confused. "I believe what’s happening here is a natural instinct to well…" He trails off, but you were able to start connecting the dots.
"But wouldn’t that hurt? I don’t want to hurt anyone." You say with a small whine.
"I know, and believe me I’m no fan of the idea either, but it’d be better if you’re aware of what you’re doing rather then letting these instincts take over and you possibly doing something worse. Do you understand?" He spoke slowly and as simply as he could to help you get the idea.
"Yeah, I think so." You say with a small nod, after taking a second to let his words sink in. This already felt so weird and you hadn’t even done anything yet, so with a deep breath you hold your hand out to him and he slowly places his own in yours, a slight raise to his eyebrow. "You’re sure it’s okay?" You ask uncertain, wanting to know if this was really okay to him, he lets out a sigh and gives a hesitant nod.
"The sooner we do this, the less we have to worry or think about it." He quickly comments. You stare off into space for a second, only to be drawn back by the growing sensation but pause when you see he’s still staring at you.
"Don’t look! It feels weird with you staring!" You blurt out, puffing out your cheeks and flailing your hand in front of his face to get him to turn around.
"Alright, alright! Jeez." Percy puts his free arm up in surrender and shifts so he’s facing away from you. "There I’m not look, better?" He almost sounded like he was playfully mocking you with the way he dragged out the "better", but true to his word he was now looking away from you.
"A little." You say with a small pout. Taking in another breath and closing your eyes you go about this as carefully and calmly as possible, trying not to think too much on the matter but also wanting to be done with it so you wouldn’t hold up the group any longer. Soon enough the nagging sensation disappeared, once it did you reopen your eyes and let go maybe a little too fast for your liking when Percy suddenly tenses at the action. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! I was trying to be careful." You say a little panicked as you search for a piece of cloth to cover where two pinpricks of blood were showing.
"That was it?" He mumbled more to himself, pulling out a handkerchief to clean and cover the small area on his arm, tying it so he wouldn’t have to hold it in place the entire time. You let out another quiet sorry, deflating a bit but he stops you. "No no, you’re fine. I barely felt a thing actually." He seemed surprised by this revelation, you just let out a sigh of relief knowing you didn’t do something bad after all.
You rejoin the group and continue on your way, they conversed with each other while you let your mind wander a little. Had so many years really passed without your knowledge? You try to recall as much as you could, days having bled together when you’re locked inside all the time and kept as far from any view of the outdoors as possible. You frown at this, for so long you just obeyed the rules set before you because the grownups knew what was best yet everything they told you was a lie, it was still so confusing to wrap your head around. The sound of an iron door scraping open reels you back to reality and you’re surprised to see miss Ripley exit the cell, missing her right hand no less. She takes a look at her surroundings stopping when she catches sight of you.
"So, the little monster's still alive after all." She says with an unamused tone, you shrink a little into your self at the comment only for Percy to step in front of you and raise his weapon at her, you shuffle closer to him for comfort.
"You watch your tongue." He hisses.
"Why should I? You can see for yourself that they are." She says nonchalantly, this only makes Percy press his weapon closer to her.
"The only monster I can see at this moment, is the one standing in front of me." He says with a low, dangerous voice. You grip at his leg a bit pulling his attention away from her, looking up at him with worried eyes. He stares at you a second before letting out a sigh, lowering his weapon and looking back to Ripley. "You are now, at the moment, the luckiest person in Whitestone, do you know why?" He pauses and she hums in slight interest. "Cause you’re at the bottom of my list." He finishes, ominously. What list was he talking about you weren’t sure but at least you were moving again.
Moving your way through the castle really solidified just how long you’d been away from certain areas, having a harder time figuring out which hall went where and some areas looked completely different then what you remember. Soon enough you’re stopped a little ways in a hall, Percy kneels down to your height, a look of minor panic on his face that he tries to hide.
"I hate to do this, but I need you to keep an eye on Ripley for me, make sure she doesn’t go anywhere alright? I need to take care of something." He tells you. "If she tries anything you have my permission to bite her." He adds with a small smirk, you nod and he gets up, rounding the corner in the hall where a commotion can be heard. You turn your attention to Ripley and do as Percy said, keeping a close eye on her.
"Quit staring, your making me uncomfortable." She sneers.
"Too bad, I trust my brother way more then you and he said I have to watch you and if you’re bad I’ll bite you." You puff up your chest to make yourself look as intimidating as possible.
"Typical…" She trails off quietly, but you still heard her. Speaking of hearing, the commotion in the other room seemed to have stopped, you take a quick glance over your shoulder to see if anyone was coming back. When no one does you start to feel worried, but you couldn’t leave Ripley alone either, turning back to her you see she’s already trying to sneak away.
"Hey." You whisper yell and easily catch up to her standing in front of her you look her dead in the eyes and glare. "Stop trying to run away and just sit down will you." You huff angrily, to your shock your eyes feel like they tingle for a second at the same time her eyes flash a (f/c) and she obeys what you told her to do. "Whoa…" You shake your head, now wasn’t the time to be amazed by whatever just happened, you needed to see if everything was okay with Percy and his friends. Taking one more look over your shoulder at Ripley she was still sitting where you told her to, satisfied with this you round the corner and carefully crack open a door you’re sure you heard the commotion from. When you get a good enough view you gasp at the sight you see, feeling tears of joy well up in your eyes.
"Cass!!" You shout, hurrying into the room without a care and tackling your sister to the ground in a hug. It’s been forever since you’ve seen her, well since you’ve seen anyone but first Percy now Cass, this was great!
"Wait… (y/n)? Is it really you?" She looks at you stunned by your sudden appearance but happy nonetheless.
"So, even you weren’t aware of their presents or situation?" Percy looks at Cassandra with a mix of curiosity and concern.
"No, I-I didn’t know." She says softly, finally wrapping an arm around you to return the embrace. You snuggle into her more, she also looked different like Percy but it was still her and you were more then happy to relish in this reunion.
"Not to be that person or anything, but wasn’t (y/n) supposed to keep an eye on Ripley?" Pike mentions.
"Oh yeah! I told her to go sit down in the hall and she listened to me." You beam happily. Vex and Vax exit the room, coming back not too long after with a very unhappy Ripley in their grip.
"So they hypnotize me and you still think they’re not some monster." She hisses. Percy looks to you shocked but quickly recovers from it.
"Well originally I said they were allowed to bite you, so honestly you have no room to complain about this alternative." He replies stoically, causing Ripley to huff.
"Let just get this over with." She mumbles to herself. With that you get up off the floor and help Cassandra stand up too, she offers you her hand which you happily accept and you all file out of the room, continuing the journey with a newfound spring to your step. When you finally make it to the residuum refinement room you see that it’s a lot bigger then you thought, but then again you never thought much of it before, you have a look around the large room while the others converse until you’re pulled aside by Cassandra.
"Hey." You whine, she quickly shushes you.
"Don’t worry (y/n), our family will take good care of us." She says, you look at her confused, Percy was your family what was she talking about?
"Cassandra!" You hear Percy shout with alarm, confusing your further. She pulls a lever on the wall closing off any exits, you quickly try to switch it back, wonder what she was doing, but you’re stopped by her grasping onto the collar of your shirt and pulling you away.
"Cass, what are you doing?" You ask as you wriggle to break free from her grip, she doesn’t answer you just giving a glare towards Percy as he tries to make his way over to you both, Vax doing the same just faster. Before the room's completely sealed Vax manages to slip his way under the barrier, him and Cassandra pull their weapons and point them at each other. With her distracted by Vax you manage to break free of her grip and try for the lever again but something makes you pause when you hear a voice coming from the shadows.
"Excellent work dear." You recognize Lord Sylas' voice anywhere, turning to see him and Delilah approach. Vax tries to strike at them but you see Sylas' eyes glow for a second before Vax stops in his movements and straightens out more stiffly. You quickly turn to reach for the lever but Delilah holds you in place with her magic.
"Now now, my dear child, not so fast." She tuts you in almost a sickly sweet voice. You struggle to free yourself of the spell but it’s no use.
"Delilah, let them go!" Percy yells slamming a fist against the thick glass, before looking back to Cassandra. "Why are you doing this?"
"You did this to yourself, Percy. The day you left me lying in the snow, choking on blood like a hunted animal." She seethes in response. "My brother abandoned me. Abandoned us." She says looking directly at you. You pause in your struggling as you look at your siblings concerned
"What-what's she talking about?" You ask, clueless. You’re pulled back by the spell and brought over to Delilah's side.
"You need not worry yourself on such trivial things, my child. All will be made better before you know it." She whispers to you, this just furthers your confusion. She redirects her attention towards the others. "You know, I’m quite disappointed Percival." She says smoothly, pulling in his attention. "Because of you our sweet, innocent child was exposed to your harsh reality." She places a hand under your chin to make you look at her, before you quickly pull away. "You see? Now they’re scared and confused because of you. Not to worry though a few memory spells should fix that problem easily." She taunts.
"No! I don’t wanna! You can’t make me!" You cry out, struggling harder against her spell holding you in place. Tears trail down your face as your fruitless efforts to free yourself continue, to make matters worse you’re now being dragged away from everyone. "No! No, it’s not fair! I don’t want to go with you! I want my brother! Percy!" You cry out for him, even if you knew he couldn’t reach you, you still beg for him to somehow break through the barrier and save you.
Percy can only watch helplessly as the last of his family is pulled away from him, one seemingly by their own choice, the other kicking and screaming for help…
To be continued…
That’s right I’m making this a three parter because there was just too much to add for only two parts (hopefully part 3 will come out sooner then this one did)
I was wondering if you could do the Briarwood's for the spooky month. Being vampires and necromancers, it fits quiet well.
Maybe something to where a little Briarwood has to face the downfall of their parents and Ripley helps them escape? Maybe they try to do as Percy did and get revenge?
Interesting… very very interesting. So not too sure if this is or isn’t what you asked for, but my mind just couldn’t let the idea go, yeah this one is defiantly not as fluffy as what I usually make…
I really hope this turns out well 😖
Cold Lies, Colder Truths
Anna Ripley & Young Briarwood!Reader
(With a more Percy & Young Briarwood!Reader by the end)(honestly don’t really know what to pair for this one…)
WARNING: angst, slight derealization, trauma
"You can’t! I broke the world for us!" Your mother’s screams echoed around the chamber as you watch from your hiding place, horrified at the sight of your father's body disintegrating into ash. You hurried out of the chamber to avoid being spotted, not too long after, from a different hiding place you watched this party exits the chamber, your mother unconscious in the large ones grasp. They tied her up and waited for her to awaken, they interrogated her, tormented her and all you could do was watch, knowing full well you didn’t have the power to take them all on. She tried to escape them and for a moment you held a glimmer of hope, but the rouge struck her down and Cassandra confronted her. You used to think of her as a sort of older sister, she taught you a lot while growing up, always trying to reassure you of better days to come. Now you watch her kill your mother, your heart shattering at the betrayal, what did you do to deserve this? All your life you did as you were told and were treated as royalty, you didn’t know anything else. Were you going to be next? You didn’t know and you didn’t want to stay to find out, so you try to slip out of your hiding place as unnoticed as possible. You stumble, making a noise and froze for a second, looking back over at everyone’s eyes trained on you. Cassandra tries to approach slowly but you suddenly take off into a sprint down one of the halls as fast as your legs will carry you, ignoring her calls of you name.
You had no doubt they’re all behind you, and probably gaining quickly too, when you’re suddenly yanked from your thoughts, physically and mentally. You’re pulled down a more narrow hallway and hidden behind some curtains, whoever had been leading you stood in front of you as still as a statue and you waited. Hearing the sound of approaching and then retreating footsteps as well as Cassandra calling your name again before that too faded out.
"Wh-who are you? Why did you just help me?" You ask shakily. The "statue" laughs before the two of you start moving again, slowly and stealthily.
"Of all the things here, I didn’t want to leave behind my favourite assistant." You instantly recognize the voice and a sliver of hope returns to you.
"Auntie Anna! I thought you’d left to continue with all your research." You had to do everything in your power not to sound too excited, especially with sounds easily bouncing off the dungeon walls.
"From now on, I’m going to need you to refer to me as Dr. Ripley, understood. We have a whole nation against us now, we’re going to need to stay in hiding for a while." She informs you as you traverse your way through the catacombs and finally to the outside world. You give her a nod and have to take a moment to blink away at the sunshine irritating your eyes, always having been a little extra sensitive to it. You both make your way off, into the early dawn away from the only place you’d known to be home…
You trained long and hard to hone in your abilities, taking after your mother by practicing necromancy but also having Ripley teach you how to be a Gunslinger. You helped her with any and all research she did, doing as you were asked by gathering materials for weapon construction and made new allies to aid you both for the inevitable rematch against the foul Vox Machina. Ripley told you a lot about this group, they were a mess and the only reason they made it as far as they did and had taken down your parents was because they had Cassandra's brother, Percival leading them. The more you learned about them from Ripley the more you hated them for what they did and wanted nothing more then to get some well deserved revenge for your family. So you practiced and honed into your skills as much as you could for as long as you could each day.
"You’re doing very well, soon enough we'll get our reward for all we’ve been working for." Ripley would say this very often to you, at first you saw it as simply encouragement, gaining praise for all your hard work. Over time, however you did slowly notice her words weren’t quite directed towards you, and she’d spend more and more of her time seemingly talking to herself, a looming shadow always lurking nearby. When she did pay mind to you it was less like her admiring your growing skill and looked more like how she’d admire her own creations, you try to brush this off as you overthinking things but your young mind still couldn’t help but wonder. It wasn’t until you came across some of her notes and blueprints did the whole picture start to unfurl itself.
You were cleaning up the little work area to avoid any mishaps when you noticed something interesting amounts tall the papers, a journal with log notes dating back from when you were born. Curiosity got the better of you and you begin to read a few of the notes, it shocked you to learn about all the human experiments Ripley had been working. The one on particular that really made you freeze was the only one she'd labeled as a great success, that being the creation of a new life through mixed DNA samples and a "borrowed" embryo. You were absolutely speechless as you look at the notes, unaware of the second presents that had joined you until they speak up.
"You weren’t supposed to find that yet." Ripley's voice cutting through the silence makes you jump and whip around towards her. "You’re still young, I didn’t want to spoil the surprise until you were a little older." She says as if this is the most casual thing in the world to her.
"I don’t understand, what does this mean. Are-are these notes about me?" You look at her concerned and confused, she places a hand on your shoulder for comfort but her answer is anything but.
"Dear sweet (y/n), of course they are, you didn’t think your parents could actually have a biological child as they were without some outside assistance, did you?" You just stare at her wide eyed, unable to form words. "You were mostly just made to be in their likeness, I must admit getting the embryo was quite the challenge, oh but it was worth a bit of bloodshed in the end." She reminisced, sounding very pleased with herself. You step away from her, taking in deep and heavy breaths as the information sinks in.
"So-so I’m not… I’m not supposed to be real?" You stutter out, having a very hard time gripping the situation.
"Not technically, but that’s the wonder of experimentation, I made you become a reality for them." The look in her eye was almost deranged at this point. "Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re still my favourite after all." After all these years it finally clicked why she always said that, why she held such high value towards you, why she looked at you like one of her inventions, because you'd always been one. After having learned all this you had developed a shiver of sorts, the world around you becoming much colder. Still you stuck around, though more out of survival then revenge this time, because as much as you now hated to admit it you were still a criminal on the run and would either be caught and locked away or killed and forgotten if you tried to go off on your own.
Glintshore was where things took another turn for the worst, victory was so close in your grasp. Destiny had other plans as you watched Anna Ripley, the only person left to have given you life advice and some form of purpose, was brutally killed by Vox Machina, torn to literal pieces. To rub salt even farther into that wound the party was able to bring Percival back to life, they always had each other’s backs always looked out for one another, it made you feel awful and you didn’t know why. You stayed in the little crevice you’d wedged yourself into until the party left, then you waited some more just to be safe before finally slipping out of your hiding spot and looking over at the desecrated corpse of Ripley. You stared at the unrecognizable body for a long time, a part of you still feeling the urge to cry over the only one who showed some care towards you, the other half felt feeling nothing but bitterness about all the lies you’d been fed and believed over the years. You felt a tear roll down your cheek as you spit on the body and walk away…
~~~~~~~~~~
How much time had passed? You honestly lost track after the first few months, doing anything you could to keep yourself alive. Stealing, sure. Breaking and entering, if it’d help you’d do it. You weren’t the greatest per-say but you always got away before anyone could catch you, fuelled by an unknown desire you couldn’t pinpoint, only knowing this world was a cold place with no mercy towards you. Here you are now, in the dark of night, looking up at the place where this whole mess started, Whitestone Castle, and scowl at the "happier" memories that wanted to surface. You scout the place out, keeping as much to the shadows as possible, until you see your opening, an opened window a several meters off the ground. You could make it if you got yourself a running start, checking your left and right for any guards and finding none you dash towards the wall and push yourself as far as you could up before casting Misty Step and just barely making it to the windowsill.
You climb inside and look around the room, there’s a faint light from underneath the door as well as a magical light source near the left side of the room, acting as some sorta nightlight. Daring yourself to step closer to the light you look down into the little bassinet at the sleeping baby inside. For a moment things felt calm, like you were in the most control over yourself as you looked at the infant in front of you, they turn over a little and you notice a slight point to their ears, the only sign of their elven heritage and take a step back. Your breathing felt a little heavy and reality itself looked like it was melting away as thoughts flooded your head at a headache enduring rate, worst of all was within this flood of thoughts came what sounded like a voice telling you to finally get the revenge you so desired. You slowly look back at the infant, a much more displeased look on your face as you pulled out the gun you had strapped to your belt. It would be quick and painless on them, you’d finally find the peace your looking for, these confusing emotions will finally stop and everything will make sense again. This is what was playing in your mind, that voice now sounding so familiar to you as you place a finger on the trigger. The sound of a door opening as well as light from the hall pooling in only slightly pulls you from your current state of mind, looking over at the two figures standing frozen in the doorway.
"One step and I’ll shoot." You say monotonously, all the emotions welling inside you keeping you neutral by default.
"Okay, let’s take this easy now. You don’t have to do this." The male says slowly, both parents holding their hands up slightly to appease you.
"Maybe I do, you ruined my life. Why not ruin yours." You spit bitterly, tightening your grip on your weapon.
"Ruined your life? I don’t even know who you are." That hit you harder then you wanted it to. After everything you’d been through, everything you’d endured, having strong connections to his enemies and he doesn’t even know or remember you?
"Don’t remember? You don’t remember the child who had to run from this very castle when you killed their parents!?! You don’t remember them being in that fight back at Glintshore before retreating!?! Am I so insignificant that I mean nothing!?" You shout, all your frustrations and anger bubbling to the surface, and it wasn’t about to stop either. "I was told I would be someone important some day, but that was shattered in front of me. My family's full of liars and backstabbers, my 'aunt' was a psychopath obsessed with you, I’m not even supposed to exist! I’m just an experiment given life! You got to live your happily ever after while I’m stuck as a blemish in the story left with nothing! It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It not fair! I hate you!" Once you’d started you couldn’t stop yourself from the overwhelming emotions that tumbled out of your mouth, but you were finally able to pinpoint what the prominent feeling that’s been driving you forward this whole time was, jealousy. You were jealous that they got to go on with their lives while you’ve been left to the side suffering. Your arm was shaking as you held it towards the now stirring infant, one quick motions could end this and you’d truly be the villain in this part of the story, but now a small thought snuck in. Was it really worth it anymore?
"(Y/n)." You flinch at the sound of your name and look over. "Your name's (y/n), isn’t it? I do remember, Cassandra told us about you, how she always thought you different from your… parents. Listen to me, I know what this feeling is like, I’ve walked down a path similar to this and I know that if you keep going down it alone it’s not going to end well for you."
"Why do you care about what I do. Is it because I’m threatening your future? With what I’ve seen you’ve never shown mercy, so why should I." You couldn’t even tell you you were staring at him through your tears vision.
"It’s because you’re still young, you still have time to turn this around and make the right choice." You don’t move, stuck in the moment, stuck in your head you just didn’t know what to do anymore. "Don't walk this path, don’t live with the guilt. Just put the gun down." You blink through your tears and see the two adults try to slowly shuffle forward. Having been holding the weapon for so long it felt like an irresistible twitch to do something, it happened so fast, the tightening of your grip, the shift in your arm, the pull of the trigger followed by an ear piercing gunshot………
…… The cry of a startled baby catches your attention. You slowly follow your arm up to see the bullet hole you left in the roof before dropping it and by extension the gun as you fall to your knees. Sobs racked through your body, you cover your face in shame at what you almost did. You couldn’t do it, no matter how much you’d been exposed to such violence and bloodshed, you just couldn’t bring yourself to take the life of an innocent.
"Whatever it is you wish to do with me, just get it over with." You choke out, defeated. There was nothing left for you, you had no family, no purpose, just a speck ready to be flicked away and forgotten. A minute passes, footsteps approach. Another minute passes, the baby's cries are calmed and faint murmuring is heard. Another minute passes, one set of footsteps leave. Another minute, silence. Another minute, a hand gently places itself on you, you flinch ready for the worst, when nothing happens you peek up slightly staring into patient eyes…
"You must be tired." Percy says, looking at the distraught teen in front of him. It pained him how much of himself he could see in you.
"Aren’t you mad? Don’t you want to punish me?" You ask very confused. He shakes his head.
"I think you’ve been through enough already." He says in a soothing way, trying to calm the teen.
"But-but I’m the enemy, I thought you'd want to finish what you started." He sighs, this poor child had their mind so messed up from the people they were forced to live with.
"I did, and I accomplished that years ago. You weren’t apart of that, I don’t hold anything against you."
"But-"
"You didn’t know any better at the time but you did choose to spare where they would not. You are not your parents." You stare at him and Percy could see the tears well up again, some already spilling over. Maybe it was the fact that Percy was a father now, but he found himself helping to dry your tears, slightly surprised to see you lean into the gentle touch. "This world hasn’t been fair to you. I know what that’s like, but you don’t have to go through it alone anymore."
"You make it sound like it’ll be easy to get over it." You hear him sigh softly at this.
"I know it won’t be. It’s going to take a lot of time and patience, but before all that…" He stands from his crouching position and moves back to give you a bit of space. Cautiously, shakily you stand as well a small shiver running through you. "I need to know if you’re willing to take the first step." He holds out a hand to you, an offer, a choice you could refuse if you so desired. You look at it for a bit, waiting, he doesn’t falter or get frustrated with you taking your time. Raising a shaky hand you place it in his…
Bonus:
Years had passed, you find yourself at the edge of a small town, a perfect for a rest and to write a letter to your family back home. A shiver runs through you, something that’s stuck around for years and never really went away, be it from excitement or nerves. You look at the worn sign, "Welcome to Trostenwald" carved into it. With a deep breath you step into the town, off to Curious Beginnings…
Hello! Can I request a Vox machina and Mighty Nein child reader where the reader gets killed and revived? Thank you!!
Hi! Thank you so so much for the suggestion, not gonna lie it was a bit tricky to write because it’s a tough subject to nail… also I may have cried a little making this, but after looking through the tears at the results I’d say it turned out pretty good 😁
No, I will not apologize for the length… Enjoy!
Dancing with Death
Vox Machina, Mighty Nein & Child!Reader
Warnings: Death (I mean it’s in the ask and title so it should be obvious, I guess), may get a slight bit graphic
Vox Machina
Go in, investigate, kill some demons, get out. That’s what you were supposed to do, sure you knew it wasn’t going to be the easiest task but you didn’t expect to see Vecna himself make an appearance. The twisted archlich taunted the party as you all fight off the demons as best as possible while simultaneously thinking of a way to escape. Too focused on not getting hit you didn’t see the devious look that crossed his features when his sights set on you. You fight off enemies as best as your abilities would let you until you find yourself face to face with Vecna, a icy chill running through you as he stared you down. That icy chill becomes more literal when he grabs you by the neck and lifts you into the air, you gasp in shock as you dangle helplessly, still struggling to free yourself, his grip only getting tighter, slowly cutting off your air intake. Everything was going hazing from your lack of oxygen, you felt the cold touch of his hand around your neck, the pain increasing from said cold, you heard what sounded like distant screams or maybe cries of your name, you weren’t entirely sure, there was a sudden pop in your neck alongside a brief second of sharp pain then… nothing.
You find yourself sitting somewhere dark, legs brought up to your chest as you hug them closer to you. Looking around this darkness stretched on and on, with no end in sight. Where were you? What just happened? You felt very confused until you saw the only other figure with you in this dark void. A tall, slender feminine figure stands before you, a dark cloak flowing down her shoulders and a simple porcelain mask covering her face, a hauntingly beautiful sight to say the least. You tilt your head to the side as you stare up at her, trying to wrap your head around what was going on and why she seemed familiar. To your surprise she copies you and tilts her own head to the side, although hers was more subtle, you then tilt your head to the other side and again she copies you, earning a small giggle out of you.
"Wow, you’re really pretty." You, finally finding words, say without much thought, you mind still not fully grasping the situation at hand. She lets out a soft hum of acknowledgment and gives a small bow to you before straightening herself upright again. At this point it’s starting to click why she was familiar, your eyes widening in realization at just who you were talking to. "Wait… you’re the Raven Queen. Does-does that mean I’m dead?" You stare up at her for some sort of confirmation, but the porcelain mask she wore didn’t really help give you any clues.
"Life can be so short and unfair, never caring if they be young, old, good or evil when facing the reality that is death." You blink at her words, it felt like there was some meaning to them but you couldn’t place your finger on what.
"Is-is that a yes?" You ask hoping for a more straightforward answer. She lets out another hum and reaches down to pick you up in a fluid motion, shifting to help smooth back some of your hair the second you were secure in her arms. Her touch was cold yet oddly calming to you as she begins to glide her way across the empty landscape that surrounded you both, you wonder if she was taking you to the afterlife, then she stops. You look at her confused but something else quickly captures your attention, a bright light cutting through the darkness. You couldn’t make direct eye contact but you tried your best to, hearing faint voices emitting through it, you couldn’t make out any words but the voices sounded desperate, pleading. You look up at the Raven Queen and, even through the mask, you could feel her own gaze set on you. You stare at her with curious eyes and once again tilt your head to the side in an almost silent question, as before she copies your action and traces the side of your face, tucking back any loose hair you may have had.
"Sweet little bird," she starts making you perk up, that was what Vax and Keyleth would call you as a nickname. "It is not your time quite yet, you have much more to accomplish in this life and foes whose souls shall be brought to me by your hand." You couldn’t tell if she was trying to be uplifting or something, but you did find some encouragement in her words. She leans closer to you and the cool feeling of her mask presses against your forehead as if in a gentle kiss before your vision turns white…
You open your eyes staring up at the ceiling of your room in Greyskull Keep, you just sit there staring into space for a while until you adjust yourself to sit up. Strangely enough you feel something wrapped in one of your hands, slowly opening it to find a single ravens feather resting in your palm, you examine it a moment before breaking into a cough, a strange sensation in your neck like there was a hand still around it. The sound of your door opening makes you look over to see Pike enter the room and hurry over to you, she helps steady you to your feet, giving a little extra healing to make the feeling in your neck go away and hugs you tightly, you happily return the hug, stashing the feather into your pocket. The two of you make your way around the keep to the dining room where the others were waiting, the instant they all see you you're swept up into hugs and apologies from all of them.
"(Y/n)! You’re awake!" "How are you feeling?" "I’m so sorry we couldn’t get to you in time." "We were so scared, we thought we might not be able to save you." These alongside many other comments were sent your way as you just happily snuggle into each one of their individual embraces. Keyleth and Vex both clung to you tightly doing very little to hold back their tears of joy. Grog easily scooped you up into his arms, being careful not to crush you and just happy to see that you were back on your feet, even if he protested to being worried. Percy and Scanlan both played it neutral, giving you pats on the shoulder or back, Scanlan making a comment that he knew everything would be alright because Pike was amazing at her job, but you could see the relief in their eyes for your well being. Then there was Vax, like the others he was very much happy and relieved that you were alright, wrapping you up in a tight embrace but there was also this faint look of knowing in his eyes when he stared at you. You offer all of them a bright smile before looking back up at the rouge, pulling out the feather to show him. He looks at it a moment, his expression softening a little more as gently weaves it into your hair. You’re about to say something when Percy speaks up, suggesting everyone goes out for the evening to finally unwind and celebrate your recovery. Quick and happy to agree you all head out to Emon, because there was only one thing on your mind now… you were absolutely famished.
Mighty Nein
Being in a group of adventurers was a risky bet to take, one you took with a smile. It would be fun they said, you’ll get to see new places they said, nothing could possibly go wrong you thought. For the most part it was true, but facing off against a coven of sea hags wasn’t proving to be the most fun to you. Well in fashion for the Nein, it would seem, things only got worse before they’d get better, one of the hags activating an orb-like object summoning a water elemental to the battle. The water elemental lunges at you, sweeping you up in its torrent to keep you from escaping, you only had enough time to take in a quick gasp of air before you’re trapped in the creature. You try to flail your arms to break free of the creatures hold to no avail, it’s not long before you start to have a hard time holding your breath. In a desperate last attempt you try reaching out to grab hold of anything nearby that you could use to pull yourself free, it was a futile attempt, your arms not even breaking past the creatures watery body. Your lungs begged for air and without meaning to you release your breath and take in a water, it burned your throat and lungs when you tried to cough it out only taking more in. Everything around you started to fade away, it was like the elemental itself didn’t exist either, only you and this moment, you couldn't escape and you didn’t know where everyone else was. It was lonely and you were terrified… then the pain disappeared, your vision was still dark but it didn’t hurt to breathe anymore.
You weren’t too sure what was going on, you couldn’t move or at very least you chose not to move and looked every which direction to see if there was anything or anyone else with you. Finding nothing you shakily rise to your feet and slowly move forward in this dark abyss.
"Hello! Is anyone there? Caduceus? Jester? Anyone?" You call out into the darkness hoping for an answer… no response. You keep calling for anyone from the Nein in hopes that someone would answer you, though it felt as though your voice was just swallowed up and reaching nowhere. "Is anyone there?" You repeat feebly. "Please, I don’t wanna be alone." You sniffle and tremble a little, tears pricking the corners of your eyes. A soft light breaks the darkness around you and a feminine figure appears before you. Her hair long and wild, cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall well complimented by the vines and flowers growing among it, a warm motherly smile upon her face.
A comforting breeze, feeling like that of a warm hug, blows around you and words, unspoken aloud but still heard form in your mind. "My sweet child, do not fear, you have never been alone." The words were soft and gentle, easing away your fear and bringing a sense of comfort to you as you stare up at the woman. She gently lifts you into her arms, moving so fluidly you almost don’t realize it until you’re face to face with the deity. Curiously you reach a hand out and touch the various flowers in her hair, a small giggle coming from you at the feeling.
"Your hair's really soft and the flowers a very pretty." You compliment, she hums in response, taking one of the flowers out of her hair and tucking it behind your ear. You carefully place a hand on the flower and smile at her, all the fear you held earlier finally disappearing.
"It is not quite yet your time to rejoin the earth," once again you don’t quite see her lips move but hear a voice carried in the soft breeze she emits. "Your family still needs you, my child. Go. Learn. Grow." Her words brought comfort but you had no idea what she was saying, honestly you still weren’t quite sure what had happened or who she was. She parts her lips and blows air into you, your vision turning white for a moment before you find yourself coughing up some water, feeling some pain in your chest as a result.
"Easy, easy. It’s alright, you’re gonna be okay." You rub your eyes before peeking them open to see Caduceus staring down at you with a relived smile. That’s when it clicked into your head what happened, but before you can make a comment another voice jumps in.
"Oh my gosh, (y/n)! We were so scared when we saw you in that nasty water guy." Jester effortlessly scoops you up into her arms and twirls around, a few tears having fallen at her relief.
"I wouldn’t say I was scared, just… worried." Beau comments, though her voice wavered slightly. Jester places you down and you’re immediately tackled into another hug by Nott. No comment from her, just being held in a tight embrace only a mother could give. When she finally lets go Fjord kneels down to your height and gently rubs your back, having been in a similar experience before he knows how you felt and almost looked guilty for it. You place a hand on his cheek and offer him a closed eye smile, he returns the smile before standing up again. Yasha now kneeling down and taking her turn to wrap you in her arms. You could feel the slight tremble in her body as she held you close, whispering something so quiet you wondered if she was even speaking at all.
Something soft butting at your leg pulled you from your thoughts, looking down at Frumpkin the cat gently butts it’s head against your leg again before rubbing his body against it with a soft purr. You pick up the cat, cuddling him a bit before looking around for his owner, spotting Caleb leaning against the wall his hands covering his face as he draws in deep breaths. You walk over to him and tug at his coat until he looks at you, you then hold up Frumpkin for him. He bends down and takes the cat from you, letting the fey rest on his shoulders then reaches over and gives you a pat on the head. It wasn’t much but you gave him A for effort.
"Alright, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m done standing around in here." Beau speaks up again, making you realize you were still in the creepy sea cave where the coven once resided.
"I second that!" You say, it coming out more hoarse then you’d like. A few more voices of agreement later and your all making your way back out of the cave and towards your ship.
What if VM kid that has to get big coke bottles glasses and are super insecure about it. So Percy gives them a little pep talk. I also REALLY love your work!!!💖💛💜💝💕✨✨
Thank you so much for the ask, as a glasses wearer myself I know what it felt like to be insecure about them at first. I hope you like it 😁
Sight for Poor Eyes
Percy & Child!Reader
You huff and pout at the item in your hands. You know what they are, you just didn’t want to use them thinking you’d look stupid if you did. You set them down on the log you’d perched yourself on and stare off at nothing in particular, as everything sorta melded together in your vision. You never did have the best vision but it was still fine at one point, but over time you noticed the farther things were from you the more blurry they’d become. You didn’t say anything at first, thinking it was probably just a trick of the light, but as time dragged on it got worse until things had to be at least 5 feet away from you to see clearly, things would become more and more blurry the farther away they were. Even with the worsening vision you still didn’t say anything, the group had to catch on themselves, especially when they saw you start to squint a lot in order to try and focus your vision on anything. Now here you sit, huffing unhappily at the thick pair of glasses resting next to you.
"Mind if I join you for a spill?" You hear Percy's voice as he walks up from behind. You don’t respond, just shuffle over to give him a space to join you. "You seem a little lost and confused in yourself." He adds once he takes a seat next to you, adjusting himself a bit.
"I don’t see why I need these," you start, hearing a soft chuckle from Percy at your unintentional joke. "I can still do things fine without them." You finish with another huff, crossing your arms stubbornly.
"Maybe so, but don’t you think it’d make things a lot easier if you could see clearly?" He questions, for a moment you look down at your glasses but shake your head and sigh.
"I mean I guess, but…" your voice trails off and you start pouting, feeling tears try to rile themselves up but you hold them back.
"But what?" Percy presses, in a calming manner. You take a deep breath to try to calm yourself.
"They make me look stupid. I don’t care if I see better with them, no one's ever going to take me seriously when I wear them." You curl into yourself a bit, just wanting to disappear into the ground.
"Is that what you think." He pauses a second, you give a slight nod. "I guess that must mean I also look pretty stupid and don’t get taken seriously too." You whip your head over at him in shock.
"What are you talking about!? You’re like one the coolest people I know. You make all these awesome inventions, and… and you’re just really cool. People would have to be really dumb not to take you seriously." He starts to laugh and you stare at him confused.
"Do you not hear yourself?" He looks you in the eyes, you tilt your head, still very confused. "I do quite appreciate the compliment, but what you just said is the exact opposite of what you thought it’s like to wear your own glasses."
"I don’t get it." He lets out another chuckle.
"(Y/n) the only way for your glasses to make you look 'stupid' as you put it, is only if you yourself keep thinking that way. If you think they're stupid then you’ll feel just the same, but if reverse your thinking your feelings will follow suit." You blink a little, trying to process his words. Percy reaches over and picks up your glasses, turning them around in his hands. "You know, I firmly believe if you gave them a real shot, you’ll find yourself seeing things in a whole new way. These glasses don’t own you, you own them, sure maybe some won’t take you seriously at first but that's when you really have to prove them wrong. Show them you do deserve their respect and they’ll never doubt you again." You slowly start to uncurl yourself.
"You really think so?" You voice comes out small, just above a whisper.
"I know so." He replies confidently. "All you have to do is give it a chance." He holds up your glasses and waits patiently. You look at them, thinking over everything said to you so far, after a moment you look back at him and give a nod. Percy then carefully places the glasses on your face and instantly things become more visible to you, like the fine, intricate designs that accented his coat, those used to just be fuzzy lines in your eyes.
"Whoa." You stare up at the trees in awe, seeing just how detailed the branches were that stretched out and weaved around each other. Looking over your shoulder you can see the group finish setting up camp for the evening, they would’ve been nothing more them blurred moving shapes before but now you could see everyone in great detail. Percy was right, the thoughts and feelings of looking stupid in glasses had melted away in place of wide eyed wonder at all the little details you never would’ve seen before, a smile spreading across your face as you take some time to just look around and admire everything in a whole new way. Finally you look back over at Percy, seeing his own smile as he stands up and offers you a hand, you accept and he helps you to your feet. You motion for him to kneel down for you, when he does so you wrap your arms around him in a hug with a quiet thank you. He returns the gesture, giving you a few pats on the back before letting go, he stands up and offers you his hand again, which you also happily accept again as you both walk back over to the others, you take one more look around you, still in awe at just how detailed everything truly was.
To think, you never would’ve known just how beautiful the world could look, had you not given it a chance.
