Prolouge Pt One (Madness//Calliope Kane series book One)
2 years before going to earth
The pounding sound was what woke her first. A pale, slender arm covered the eyes of Calliope Kane as she sighed trying to wake up. As the fog cleared and she started to become more coherent, the redhead heard the knocking on her door more distinctly.
“Calliope, you need to get up and come eat. You have class.” Amara Kane said, knocking on her daughters door. “Quickly because i don’t want to hear you complain that you’re hungry again.” Callie knew her mother was waiting for an answer so she sighed and swung her legs out of bed.
“I’ll be out in a second.” She yelled back as she threw her hair up in a ponytail. Walking over to the chair at her desk she looked down at her legs before putting them on. Rolling her eyes, Callie noticed the dark bruise blossoming against her cream colored skin. It must of come from her sparring session the day before. Her father wanted her to keep up her self defense classes by practicing with the guard cadets. Unfortunately that resulted in her getting bruises and the occasional face shot. But it also resulted in them getting their ass kicked for underestimating her. Smiling to herself, the red headed teen threw a tank top on and put a jacket over that before heading out of her room.
Walking over to her mom, Callie gave her a kiss on the cheek and started eating what was in front of her. Amara leaned against the counter and smiled at her daughter while fixing her own brilliant red hair. Callie May look like her father but she had her mother’s hair and eyes. Watching as the girl got up, she handed her daughter her bag and brought her in for a hug.
“I love you. Remember your father wants you to meet him later today okay?” Callie nodded as she made sure she had everything and started to head out the door. “Roger that mama. I’ll see you tonight, i love you too” she said stepping out into the hallway.
The Kane’s lived in the nicer part of the Ark due to her father's position. Though she would be considered privileged, Callie tried to not be that way. She hated the clear divide that separated people and tried her best to not let that interfere with anything. Grabbing her book out of her bag, the redhead didn’t realize that someone had come up behind her till she felt her ponytail get yanked gently. Spinning around she came face to face with the brown eyes and olive, tan skin of Bellamy Blake. Shooting her a grin that made a small blush creep under the freckles on her face, Callie laughed when she realized who it was
“What Blake, didn’t get enough of me when i kicked your ass sparing yesterday?” She asked as she continued walking. Bellamy was someone that didn’t treat her like glass due to her father. He was someone that actually put up a fair fight and he was that someone that gave her the bruise on her leg. “Come on cadet, I thought you would be tired of telling your friends that a girl bested you.”
The smile he gave her made Callie turn away. That damn dopey grin twisted her stomach into knots and made her want to trace the outline of his face.
“Cal, I distinctly remember me going easy on you. It wouldn’t look right if i fought a girl.” The dark haired boy said. He focused on the way her tongue traced her lips as she turned back to him and laughed. Her red hair was able to shine bright under the harsh fluorescent lights and unlike everyone else that looked washed out, she managed to glow. Slowly shaking his head he smiled slightly at her laugh. He had dreams about that laugh since he met her two months ago.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself at night Blake.” Callie said smiling at the nickname. Everyone called her Calliope or Callie. Bellamy started shortening it when you started hanging out and thigh she hated people calling her it, she didn’t mind when it rolled off his lips. Realizing he had stepped closer to her Callie’s heart started beating so fast that she thought it would jump out of his chest. Damn he smells good. She thought to herself as she slowly trailed her eyes up to his.
“How about we have a rematch today? Then we can see whose the best.” He said quietly running the back of his hand up her arm. Callie’s breath caught as she noticed his smile widened.
“Calliope there you are.” Marcus Kane’s voice boomed through the quiet hallway making the two jump apart. “Dad, hey!” Callie said turning to him, hoping the blush that was appearing on her face wasn’t too noticeable. Marcus stares at the kids and noticed that even though his daughter was beaming up at him, the Blake boy continued to look only at her.
“I wanted to speak with you before class today. I think we need to cut back on the training. Your mother noticed some big bruises on your legs this morning and was worried.” Callie rolled her eyes and sighed.
“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s bound to happen, besides Blake over here needed to have some hits in.” She said laughing as she pushed slightly on his shoulder. Noticing the look of worry on Bellamy’s face she laughed. “Chill out pretty boy. It doesn’t hurt that much.” Walking away from him, she winked. “I’ll see you later tonight for a rematch.”
Going over to her father, Callie stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you after class dad. Love you.” She said happily as she walked down the hallway. What she didn’t notice was the pair of eyes that followed her till she turned the corner.
“Cadet Blake. I don’t think I need to remind you about the relationship you should be having with my daughter.” Marcus said focusing on the boy in front of him. Clearing his throat, Bellamy ran a hand through his hair. “Uh yes sir. Cal and i are just friends.” Nodding Marcus started going down the hallway before turning around with a small smile on his lips. “Try not to take it too easy on her in training. Just lay off the bruises for her mother’s sake.”
Bellamy nodded at the retreating figure and started walking his own way. The entire time his mind was on the red headed wild girl that made him smile.
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Calliope stood in the locker room changing into her work out clothes. It had been a long day and it turned into an even longer one after the meeting she had with her dad. Closing her eyes Callie rubbed her forehead as she remembered the talk with im.
“Calliope, you turn 18 in seven months. You NEED to figure out what you want to do.” Marcus said looking at his daughter. Sitting in his chair with her hair falling in her face, he marveled at how grown she already looked. How did his small, little girl become a woman over night. When she raised her green eyes to his brown, he sighed. That defiance that was showing he knew well. Too well sometimes.
“You mean you want me to decide to follow you with the council.” She said, her eyes narrowing as she looked back down at her book. “I’ll figure it out dad, when I know you will know.” She said finally looking back up to him.
Callie knew her dad wanted her to follow in his footsteps. Become the next Kane on the council, but the redhead knew that she never wanted to go down that path. Going down that path meant she had to follow the rules, and she honestly thought the rules were bullshit. Throwing a baggy tank top over her sports bra, the girl pulled her hair up into a braid and started wrapping her hands. Heading out to the practice room for sparring she noticed that only a few cadets were there today. Shrugging she went over to the punching bag and started.
She had been zoned out for about five minutes before she heard her name. “Kane, Kane….Calliope!” She finally stopped and turned towards the voice. Noticing LT Shumway standing next to her, she stopped.
“Hey! Sorry, I guess I was zoning out.” She said flashing him a smile. Chuckling, he shook his head as he looked at her.
“No harm no foul. Just wanted to let you know that a lot of the cadets are out today due to some other issues. So you may be on your own today.”
Nodding, Callie shrugged. “Not a big deal.” She said “Thank you for telling me.” Callie watched him walk away before she went back to what she was doing.
After about 30 minutes she decided to go and shower and head back to her room. Walking down the hallway, she noticed she had about 45 minutes till she had to be back before curfew and decided to take her time. Standing in front of a window, she looked out at the vast emptiness that expanded in front of her. Seeing earth, she wondered what it would be like to finally be back down on the ground. To be able to live and be free, instead of suffocating to death up in space. Feeling hands on her shoulders, Callie tensed up and quickly shoved whoever it was against the window. Her forearm located against their neck. Hearing the chuckle, she released and let her arm fall at her side as she stared into the eyes that made her stomach do back flips. Raising her lips in a grin, she kept her hand resting on his arm. “Sorry about that. You know you can’t just sneak up on me like that.”
Bellamy tried to ignore the heat that rushed through his body when she pinned him against the window. He tried to ignore the way her body was still pressed to his when she let go and how her touch sent his mind into a frenzy. “My bad Red. I promise I will make myself known next time.” He said laughing a bit. Callie had finally realized how close she was to him and stepped back. The dark haired boy tried to hide his disappointment. “How about I walk you back to your quarters. Don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.” All Callie could do was nod as they started walking that way.
“I didn’t see you at the training area today.” Green eyes flicked over to catch the dark brown ones that she was starting to fall for. “I thought you owed me a rematch.” Callie said flashing a smile.
Bellamy nodded and ran a hand through hair. “Yeah, I had to do some other training and shadowing, next time though. I promise.” It was a promise he intended to keep. Any way to get the feeling of her hands on his body, or her underneath him was something that he wanted to accomplish.
A lot of people thought that Callie was little miss perfect. Perfect life...perfect family...perfect everything. Truth be told, he thought the same thing. Till he got to know her and everything changed. Now he can't imagine not being able to talk to the girl, even if it's just passing her in the hall and saying hi.
“Well i’m here. Thanks Bell for walking me back. I should probably get inside before my mom has a fit.” She said. As if on cue the door slid open and low and behold her mother was standing there with a small smile on her face. “Calliope, it’s almost curfew.” She said with knowing eyes.
“Yeah mom, hence me being here ten minutes before.” The redhead said with a small smile. Looking at Bellamy, she squeezed his arm before stepping inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow for that rematch okay?” Callie smiled and the door shut.
“It’s a date.” The dark hair boy said chuckling as he walked back down the hall.
In the year that she had lived with Per Olstad, there was one thing she knew for a fact. He was one lazy bastard. Unless someone handed the man a half-done project on a silver platter, he rarely did much. He only worked on the cold cases because he was ordered to finish them up. Still, Mikah knew the man had potential and before he was attacked, he was one hell of a detective both in homicide and vice. It was why she found him so interesting. He focused on one thing, but he didn’t see a path after he killed the killer.
Mikah had a secret she never wanted to tell anyone and was quite thrilled to keep it to herself. Though she had a feeling that people were starting to get suspicious. Mostly Per, who had the woman pinned to the mat in the basement gym of the Oslo Police Station. It wasn’t the first time they had fought in the gym nor would it be the last. Currently, they were 2-2 and fighting again for the upper hand until the next day when they would go at it again. A thief wasn’t someone who had the skills to fight like Mikah did. Hell, Per had seen her throw out another detective who was a foot taller and at least a hundred pounds heavier. That detective was a brawler, knowing for his hard punches and having broken Per’s arm once when they were both itching for a fight long before the Serial Killer made Per and his daughter his latest victims.
Mikah…threw the man out of the ring like he was a piece of paper.
It was one of the few reasons why Per stepped into the ring with his lover? Well, flat mate at the least. Mikah was fast, used her opponent’s body weight and momentum against them and landed hard punches and jabs to key points that would have been fatal if she had a knife. That wasn’t something she learned being a common thief. He had arrested common thieves and knew they didn’t pack much of a punch and those who did kill, they had gotten lucky and were surprised to hear when their victims had died. Mikah was a different beast, a league all her own.
And she could hold her own against Per. She taught him new moves and he provided her a challenge she hadn’t had since she lived in Rome. Right now, she was staring up at his smirking face, letting him think he won…but that smirk was replaced by surprise as she hooked her leg around his and flipped them, Mikah wrapped around his body and her hand pressing into his throat and forcing his head up.
“Don’t let your ego get the best of you. It can mean your death. 3-2.” She purred, releasing him when he finally tapped out her wrist. He still had the instinct that she was working on breaking out of him. Moving his hands to try and pull the attackers hands from his throat. He could have easily won, if he had continued the roll and it would have broken her hold but instead, he went for her hands. If she had a knife, he would have been dead before his hands could struggle.
From where her thigh was placed, she could feel his hardness pressing into her, but she let it go…for now. Getting up, Mikah held out her hand and pulled Per to his feet, ignoring the small crowd they always drew when they got into it.
just played mario kart with my sisters and one of their friends and uh. it was an unholy experience ft one of my sisters choosing the literal hardest cup to play and then deciding that billie eilish was good background music
i now have a weird pseudo-emo song stuck in my head that i don’t even know the name of and any joy i had is gone
It’s boiling here and I feel like an egg. | Day 00
[ background ]
Reader is a graduated student who received her degree in Psychology over a year ago, and got a job offering from the small town of Jasper, Nevada.
—
Wanting to get away from the crowded environment of the city and an over-bearing family, she took the job right away. It’d also cost a lot less to live there compared to Chicago. As she’d been working at a clinic for a little over a year after completing her residency, she was able to afford renting out a space until she had enough money to start looking for permanent housing.
[Y/N] sat in a taxi that was driving to her new home, looking out the window and observing the land which seemed to stretch on and on for miles. Time was dragging by a bit from the trip to the airport to Jasper and [Y/N] hoped that it’d speed up soon. She hadn’t owned much. In her attempt to save up money all it had taken was not spending money on things she knew she couldn’t take with once she moved away.
Paper plates for the win.
Nevada wasn’t the cheapest place, but the small, distant town was appealing to her because the peace and quiet was something she craved badly.
The increasing volume of a car’s engine shook [Y/N] out of her spacing-out session and pulled her attention to her right side.
She observed as a brightly-colored yellow and black-striped Camaro raced past the taxi, followed by a blue motorcycle without… a driver?
[y/n] blinked and watched as a racing-suit-clad female was revealed as the rider.
Oh.
So there was one, and the lady in the back of a taxi is in need of a lot of sleep.
The duo sped off into the distance, towards the town. In that moment she wished the taxi she was taking would go faster.
—
Lugging the last of her suitcases out of the back on the taxi and up the stairs to her new home, [Y/N] settled herself down on the hardwood floors to relax for a moment. She started work in four days from now, and today was Sunday. So that meant Thursday. Hurray…
Can’t keep sitting around like this, otherwise nothing I need done will be accomplished.
Standing up with a tired sigh and a few sharp twists of her spine to relieve the building pressure from being immobile for several hours, she went to work on putting her little apartment together.
Her new space had no furniture whatsoever, so that meant she either didn’t sleep tonight or she had to go out again and find a place that sold cots or air mattresses. She’d also need a means of cooking food.
She rounded the corner. Okay, so there was a kitchen area with a mini-fridge, small stove and a deep, aluminum sink, which her sleep-deprived mind completely forgot about. It was easily unnoticed by her, the entire lot being embedded into the wall. Or in the oven and stoves case, placed there.
[Y/N] rubbed her face, before fumbling with one of her two giant suitcases to get out her laptop. Did this building even have wifi? Was there a coffee shop nearby she could use? Wait, so that meant her original plan to use her laptop was pointless. [Y/N] tucked her laptop back and pulled out her cellphone, which had surprising (but so, so beautiful) 5 bars of signal.
It was 9 PM by the time she finished setting her living space up and dragging her miserable, overheated self all over. The tired egg took the bus to Walmart in her attempt to avoid the sun.
[Y/N] had to walk back the rest of the way and drag the heavy cart with her new home’s meager bit of furnishings, nearly getting lost and fried to the sidewalk because she knew what she was pulling along would be a battle to get on and off the bus.
A used cart rested by the entrance to the apartment in an equally empty living room. Save for the gray-colored drapes that were now pulled over all of the windows, the home could still used more furnishing. It was impressive enough to [Y/N] that she managed to get so much done in a matter of hours without keeling over.
A comfortable cot was neatly set up in the third room of her home, across from the bathroom, covered by only sheets and a few thin blankets she could peel off if the temperature made sleeping unbearable.
Having turned on the air conditioner in her bedroom and living room, [Y/N] knew she’d end up paying a lot for her electricity bill. Growing up in and coming from a city with much cooler weather, Nevada was testing her.
Great, so she’ll be needing to buy new clothes too.
The lights were turned on, the giant suitcase filled with her clothes in her room and open.
The solid, wooden cutting board she brought with her from Chicago was set on the cream-colored counter, cubed carrots, celery, and onion bubbling away in a pot filled with boiling water and lentils. The knife used to cut up the vegetables was placed in the sink, the wooden spoon she brought along with the cutting board resting on the stove top on a dish. Once in a while she’d take the spoon to stir the soup.
A peach colored towel was thrown over the horizontal metal pole in the bathroom, her travel soap bar and a small bottle of shampoo resting on the ledge by a fogged-glass window in the shower. The shower curtain was pushed aside, making way to a smooth tile floor with hexagonal patterning. The mirror was no longer covered in a thin layer of dust, a bottle of anti-bacterial soap from the dollar store close by set on the side of the sink.
As she stirred her dinner, dead tired and feeling absolutely burned out, [Y/N] began planning what she had to do next.
I have to eat, shower, change into pajamas, and sleep. Landlord knows I’m here, took care of all the paperwork before my flight took off… what is it? A day ago now?
[Y/N] scooped out a serving of lentil soup into a bowl for herself, tucking a spoon in it and walking to her bedroom to get to her phone so she could make a new to do list.
The [H/C] woman picked up her phone, unlocking it and opening up the ‘Notes’ app.
to do list
get internet up
new clothes
buy soap/shampoo/conditioner
more food
buy desk/office supplies
small lamp
Tomorrow she’d get an Uber instead of attempting to go through the state equivalent of an oven.
A/N: Hi, this didn’t turn out as well as I liked because I’m trying to rush and shove stuff together and I just want to post it already. I’ll probably edit all of this later if I read back and find something I don’t like.
