Peepaw…and…quoakkas…

Based on this oneshot by @sirenmoth that was based of this post! HES TGE KING POOKIE

Coast - Luffy x f!soulmate!reader

Chapter One

This is not the first part! The first part is here, or you can use the Masterlist. I noticed people were not interacting with the first part so much; it just gives a little background to the readers situation.

Taglist: None

Next chappy, hope u enjoy :)

"Hey! I caught you!"

Did he just...? He just said it.

His happy words nearly had me frozen in place. A gleeful joy was written all over him, giggling at me with his arms still loosely wrapped around my waist as he leaned closer. I nearly did the same, clenching the fabric of his shirt tight enough that I thought he would disappear if I let go.

He just said the words, didn't he?

Looking into the pitch of his dark eyes, I could feel something 'click' into place in my head. It was a strange, cathartic feeling that washed my fear away in waves. This was it. This was him. But... how?

Every slight brush of his skin against me sent tingles down the ridge of my spine, soothing and jittery all at once, the alien feeling of excitement that wasn't my own making my eyes widen.

We sat there for a moment just observing each other, though his giggling invaded the silence every few seconds. The apple of his cheek sported a crescent scar, pushed up by his bright smile. Black hair tickled the edges of his ears, covered by a straw hat with a red band, coal eyes still searching for a reply as I sat stunned in between his legs.

I couldn't believe it. It was like the rest of the world faded away in that second, a deep fluttering feeling building in my stomach as I focused on all his features. This felt like everything I had read online and more. My heartbeat thrummed in my chest and ears the more I looked at him.

But still, there was no way. It didn't seem real.

As he sat up a little more to get a bit more comfortable, I shakily brought my forearm to my line of sight, and my breath hitched.

'Hey, you caught me! -Monkey D. Luffy'

The name had changed.

Oh my god, the name changed!

This boy in front of me was my soulmate.

"Luffy, what the hell did you do?!" The shrill voice of a woman came close as she stood behind Luffy and peered down at me, her bright orange hair and brown eyes stern and concerned all at once.

"You better not have hurt this pretty girl, so help me—" A strong male voice sounded behind us, which meant there must've been more people around. When I turned around to view the other person, I was greeted by somebody else.

"Are you alright? Do you need medical attention?" The owner of the cute voice nearly sent me reeling again, feeling my breath get caught in my throat. Fisting the fabric of the white robe the boy wore in front of me a little tighter, I tried to ground myself and understand what I was seeing. A small reindeer with a blue nose, a pink top-hat with a white 'X' on it, and it was... standing on two legs? Did he just speak?

I blinked, glancing every which way, feeling my nerves getting more worked up by all the other odd strangers surrounding me. A man with blonde hair and curly eyebrows, a man with tan skin and a long nose, a man with green hair, and a tall woman with black hair. None of them looked the least bit familiar.

I felt the tears build again on my waterline, and this sent the poor creature in front of me into a panic as a few dripped down my cheeks.

"She's unresponsive! Quick, somebody get me my medicine bag!" As the reindeer ran away in a frenzy, I stayed perplexed, turning to look at my soulmate being clobbered by the young woman as she continued to berate him.

"See, Luffy? I told you to stop doing that, I knew you'd end up hurting somebody!" Luffy, my soulmate, whined and rubbed his head. His other arm stayed wrapped around me, a feeling that left me hyper aware of his touch, and I stared at the two in bewilderment.

"But, she would've been hurt way worse if I hadn't caught her," His teary eyes quickly evaporate when he sees me looking at him again, morphing into a sad look when he sees the newly formed tear trails, a few still falling.

"Hey, you okay? You're safe now, I caught you." He leans closer, concerned, and I nearly topple over trying to back away at the sudden closeness, "Why were you falling out of the sky, anyways?"

My cheeks burn at the proximity, glancing between his face and everything else all at once. Feeling his breath fan over my skin softly, I could've passed away then and there. His gaze was so intense, practically searching my soul.

"Luffy, let's not overwhelm her all at once. She just fell from a nasty height, and she's obviously scared. Give her some space." A nasally voice speaks up from behind us as well, and I nearly snapped out of whatever trance I was in. My brain was being slow due to past events of nearly dying, clogged even more by the oddly sudden appearance of my soulmate. Only caught up to the point where Luffy's first words were said, I conjure up a response, still staring at his face:

"Um... yeah, you did," They all quiet down, when I practically whisper the reply to Luffy in a shaky voice, "you caught me, thanks."

Every single person around us chokes on air, the ones I can see all have gaping mouths and wide eyes. Luffy pays them no mind, and I look around at them. Were they disappointed?

"Haha, yeah! No problem, anytime!" His smile is cut short by a pondering face, "Wait... why does that sound so familiar?"

I feel the cold flash of fear plummet into my stomach again.

And then everyone is yelling at him.

He doesn't bother checking the mark, or checking mine for that matter. He was so... nonchalant. Almost like he didn't even realize he had a soulmate mark. Frowning, I feel a surge of disappointment and look back at the mark on my forearm just to be sure I wasn't imagining it. His name was still there, so why wasn't he reacting? Did he not like me or something?

Did he not want me as a soulmate?

The thought had my heart aching already.

Pushing away from the boy with the white robes, I manage to pry him off of me and ignore the overbearing feeling of wanting to be near him. The soothing tingles disappeared, freeing my mind from the buzzing feeling and letting it clear a little bit.

"You idiot!" The redhead is back to pounding him on the skull again, his straw hat flying somewhere as I gulp nervously and wince. Concern started to take over the disappointment; that had to have hurt.

"She's your soulmate! Look at your wrist before I wring your scrawny neck!" Despite the warning, she already was; shaking him rapidly by the neck as he sputtered and choked out apologies.

"This guy really gets to have a soulmate and I don't? Seriously?" The nasally voice pipes up.

"Honestly, poor kid." A rough, deep voice that I hadn't heard yet agreed with the group's woes.

I don't get it. Why didn't he acknowledge me at all? And why is everyone looking at me with pity?

Standing on shaky legs, I lost balance as the boat tipped, the black haired woman was suddenly at my side to keep me upright; stopping me from being thrown around by the waves jostling the ship.

"Are you all right?" She's incredibly pretty with a silky smooth voice; the type of voice I would like a narration for a book to sleep to. Black hair, light blue eyes, and perfectly tanned skin... She could be a model. I blink before nodding with a small 'yes.'

"I'm Nico Robin, it's nice to meet you." She smiles at me gently, and I feel a slight calm. She seemed a little more normal in comparison to the others I've seen.

"I'm Nami," The red haired girl from before pipes up, smiling at me with her hands still wrapped tightly around Luffy's neck, "And this is our captain, Luffy. You probably already knew his name, though."

Glancing down at the writing on my wrist at the insinuation, I nodded in confirmation. So they did know that Luffy had a soulmate.

She smiles again with an 'I figured,' and then goes back to cursing and shaking the teen as he cries at her to stop. A part of me gets a little nervous watching him be strangled, before the next person is walking up to me.

"Try to ignore those two, you get used to it," A man with a long nose, a thin face, and a large bush of black hair beneath his hat approaches; I recognize his voice from earlier, "I'm Captain Usopp! Brave warrior of the seas!"

"And I'm Sanji, please let me know if there's anything you'd like to eat, my lady! You must be starving after being so scared!" A blond with curled eyebrows and hearts in his eyes roughly pushes Usopp out of the way, who yells at him in the process. The blonde ignores Usopp's bickering and continues to gush over 'how beautiful I am,' and 'how I must've dropped from heaven.'

Overwhelmed, I take a step back and bump into someone. Turning around, I'm met with the steel cold gaze of the man with green hair. Although I'm grateful that he's not as overbearing as Sanji, he's very intimidating; silent, with crossed arms and three swords on the holsters at his side.

"Zoro." I blink and nod at him with an apology for bumping into him. He shrugs, looking disinterested.

"Don't sweat it." A small tug on my shirt brings me away from Zoro.

"I'm Tony-Tony Chopper!" I glance down and find the strange, yet oddly adorable, reindeer at my feet who spoke to me earlier.

"I'm the ship's doctor! Are you sure you're well enough to stand? You must still be in shock." Comically, another wave jostles the ship, and Zoro places a hand on my shoulder to keep me steady before I fall flat on my face.

Glancing around at everyone once again, I notice they're all staring at me; aside from Luffy, who is currently on the floor wheezing, tongue lolling like a dog. Once I realize they're expecting an introduction, I quickly stutter out a response, feeling stupid for not introducing myself sooner when they had already.

"I-I'm (Y/n). (Y/n) (L/n), sorry. I just, um... I'm really confused? Where... Where are we?" The question has them confused this time around.

"You don't know where you are? We're on the Grand Line." I look at Nami, skepticism clear on my face. I've never heard of that before...

"The Grand Line? Is that somewhere near New York?" They're all silent, not having a clue on what that place is. It's obvious with the delivery of their blank stares.

"New York City? You... You don't know it?" The prospect has me nearly panicking again. Where the hell am I? How did I get here?

"I've never heard of it. Sorry," The redhead looked bashful when she finally interrupted the silence, "Maybe it's a place we haven't been to yet?"

"I-It's a city. A big one, with tons of cars and subway systems. There's a lot of people, too," I stop to think a bit more on any other details, "it's always busy. Also nicknamed 'the city that never sleeps?'"

"Cars?" Usopp whispers to Nami, not understanding what I'm saying.

"Subway systems?" Sanji mutters to himself, also confused. I look at all of them hurriedly, feeling my hope diminish with each pitiful stare.

"Uh, no. Sorry kid, can't say I've heard of it." The green haired man, Zoro speaks up this time after a long, drawn out silence.

I feel the dread pile up in my chest. All of them look at me like I've grown another head, except for Robin, who's pondering to herself with a hand on her chin.

"That's-- It can't be. It's not possible..." She whispers to herself, eyes wide. She looks as if she's made a breakthrough, and I feel myself perk up a bit. The rest of the crew looks at her now, curious.

"What's not possible?" Usopp chimes.

"The only time I've ever heard of that area is from a book," She starts, "It's very short, with not much evidence, but it mentions the odd happenings of travelers from the past who all claimed they come from other worlds. Very few have existed, and they were all hundreds of years apart, so there was no definitive study... But, I'm certain that's the only time I've heard of the city you mentioned."

"Wait, so you mean..." Usopp begins, and Nami finishes for him.

"You're from another world?!" Nami is suddenly loud and in my face, gripping my shoulders in amazement. I feel sick to my stomach, feeling the blood drain from my face.

"That's right. There was an anonymous man years ago who said he was from the city of New York, located on a large continent called The United States. There was a devil fruit user that once backed his claims, but there's no record of the names of either person; only lost articles in the writings of their crew." Robin, now looking at my unstable posture in Nami's hands, takes one look at my pale face and seems to confirm it in her head.

"You listed some of the same descriptions that he did, which means you must be from that area, am I correct?" I swallow the lump in my throat. Mind reeling about a mile a minute, I nod shakily.

"S-So... that means... I'm..."

Not home anymore.

"Yes," Robin agrees. "You're nowhere near where you used to live. My guess is that you were transported here because your soulmate was in this place while you weren't; though, there's not a lot of evidence to back that theory since, like I mentioned, this specific ordeal doesn't happen often in history."

"R-Right," I lose feeling in my legs, "Th-That makes sense, I guess. O-Okay."

Nami and Robin gently rest me against a wall of the ship, where I feel like I could faint. Resting my head in my hands, I suppress the need to hyperventilate. It's not possible, that's never been possible. Sure, there are disappearances where I'm from, but people from another world? Is it possible? It's never been documented. Not once. Not ever.

"H-Hey, Um..." Nami is kneeling in front of me, hands on her legs like she's apologizing for something. She looks both sorry and nervous, like I would explode into tears depending on what she said. Then again, I couldn't promise that I wouldn't.

"At least you've found Luffy, right? That has to count for something."

I blinked languidly at her, before turning to look at my newfound soulmate. He was sitting up, rubbing his neck and coughing from Nami's rough treatment. The more I focused on him, the more I could feel a pain in my own neck as well. Despite that, the familiar prickle of goosebumps serves to soothe me a bit.

"Yeah... I guess you're right," I nodded, before looking back at Nami, "I was looking for him before I... came here, so it works out. I-In a weird way."

She looks at me pitifully, I distract myself from her with the little clip-clopping of footsteps coming my way. Chopper comes waddling up at my side with a stethoscope and a medical kit, without a word he takes my wrist in his little hooves and checks my pulse, but I can hear him mumbling under his breath nervously.

"Hey, weird girl," I perk up at the sound of Luffy's grainy voice from his spot, frowning in distaste at the slightly offensive name, "How'd you get here, anyways?"

A beat of a moment, and then everyone is yelling at him again.

"You idiot! We just talked about that!"

"Don't call her 'weird,' she's your soulmate, you little shit!"

"Were you even listening?!"

"Nope." He deadpans, and I furrow my eyebrows. He wasn't even listening? Why wasn't he as honed in on me as I was to him? He didn't even seem like he was drawn to my presence, when I haven't been able to take my eyes off of him.

Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I gulped down the thought that maybe he really didn't want me. If we were soulmates, that wouldn't be possible; it shouldn't be possible.

"W-Well, like I said, I was looking for you," I pointed at him, "and in the process I was leaning against the railing of a bridge it broke... So, um. I fell, and right as I was going to hit the water... I was falling out of the sky here. I think."

"But..." Luffy looks completely confused. "Why were you looking for me?"

Another eruption of noise, and I scrunch my eyebrows again, biting my lip and trying not to cry. Did he seriously not know? Had he not realized by now?

Oh, god. Maybe he really didn't care.

"Whatever," Furrowing his brow, he gets up and plops himself down on the floor next to me, staring intently at my face as he rests his own in his hands. He looked like a little kid waiting for someone to give him a treat.

"I don't get why, but it felt really good holding you." Slowly, I feel my face start to burn, embarrassed that he would say something out loud in front of the people around us, who were all facepalming at his strange antics. Covering my own face with my cold hands, I try to soothe the hot feeling of my skin and calm all my raging emotions at the same time. He was so confused, but maybe he was just confused at the situation. I hoped so.

"Wait, did I do something?" He sounds flustered and nervous before I hear him shuffle closer, "You just make me feel all weird and tingly. I like it!"

"Do you... not know why? Why you feel that way, I mean..." My soft voice seems to catch him off guard as I peek at him over my fingers, he's almost as close as when we first saw each other, looking as if he was searching for a gap to see my face.

"Mm-mm. Should I?" He shakes his head, messy hair falling over his eyes. I can tell he's telling the truth, and I'm not sure if I should feel satisfied or conflicted. I hesitate before speaking again.

"Well, you have a tattoo, right?" He nods, before bringing out his arm and pointing at it. Scrawled there are my first words, followed by my name. It feels surreal to find it on his skin.

"Yeah it's right here— Wait, it changed! Who's (Y/n)?" I'm stunned. So he doesn't know. Maybe he wasn't raised to know about having a soulmate?

"You're so stupid! Don't you remember anything?" More bickering from the crew mates who seem flabbergasted by his actions.

"You're the one who told us about her in the first place!" A spark of disbelief causes my heart to skip a beat. So he did know, he just forgot? But, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"That's her!" Sanji points towards me, "Right there, she's your soulmate, remember?!"

"Who?" His response sparks outrage, and I shake my head a little, feeling disheartened again. But, it's better to clear up the confusion now, before feeling worse about it later... right?

Still, so much for searching for my soulmate. He hasn't even been looking for me all this time.

"You're Luffy, right?" I ask him quietly.

"Yeah, that's me! How'd you know?" I nod lightly and show him my own arm.

"Look, your name is on my wrist; and my name," I point at my name on his wrist, "is on yours."

"See?" After a long drawn out 'ohh,' he's all smiles again.

"So, that means you're my soulmate! I get it!" He's a laughing mess, before he grabs my wrist and looks at the words while my cheeks light up again. The rest of the team are sitting, slack jawed, amazed at this girl who was able to clear up his confusion in a few sentences.

"That's why you're so cute!" He giggles waving my arm around like it's some sort of toy. My whole face turns bright red, but I'm still left feeling a bit bittersweet. The initial buzz of our first meeting was dulled now that I had learned the differences in our situations.

"No wonder you're his soulmate." Zoro pipes up with a scoff.

"I've never seen anyone tame that boy without hitting him or bribing him. That's pretty impressive." Usopp crosses his arms and nods at me with respect.

"Sh-She's an angel!" Sanji screeches from behind them all.

Chapter Two (coming soon)

90 notes View Post

mystic60

1 year ago

Drawing Puppet is relaxing

I would really appreciate reblogs! They share my art unlike likes :]

2K notes View Post

mystic60

6 months ago

this is how you find out im a soul eater fan btw

1K notes View Post

mystic60

1 year ago

for the record, this is what it feels like when you like and reblog us, small artists

25K notes View Post

mystic60

11 months ago

2024 GRADUATE YERRRRRRR🥳🥳🥳

Tags

graduation i graduated high school

0 notes View Post

mystic60

1 year ago

Hallo! Truly loved the MonsterAU stories! Wonderful, amazing writing!

Would it be possible for you to write: what if human!reader was turned into a chimera?

Akin to this:

Hallo! Truly Loved The MonsterAU Stories! Wonderful, Amazing Writing!

Feel free to ignore!

Chimæra

Pairing: Monster 141 x Chimera!reader

Cw: science experiment, human torture, human testing, gore?, blood, canon-typical violence, unethical human experiments, kidnapping, child abuse, malnutrition, child neglect, tell me if I missed any. Wc: 3.6k (A/N): credit to @bluegiragi’s monster 141 designs.

They were tipped off by an anonymous source that some shady and highly illegal things were being done in a small and remote town near the border of Belarus, their ongoings unknown to both the government and public of their country, but someone had given Laswell a file containing all the horrific tests conducted within the closed walls of the innocuous-looking compound —a laboratory dressed as a simple military base. The folder held snapshots of emails and files sent between scientists and researchers, small indications of what was being done to both humans and monsters, yet withholding important intel about certain things. It disclosed the location, the names and faces of every worker and leading figure in the compound, the number of security and their schedules, and what was done, but not what was truly happening, it left small clues, sublet words here and there with hidden meanings —never clear images, blurry ones as if the person was in a rush.

Despite not having clear indications of the illegal activities, Laswell had enough to have 141 sent to take it down, to bring the dehumanising lab to its ground and burn it down. She didn’t have trouble convincing them, it was telling enough to let them read the condensed files for them to read, to see themselves the monstrosity being done to children and monsters they took, kidnapped from around the world to be left at the deceitful hands of crazed scientists. There wasn’t much to be found outside it, the base wore the facade of a benevolent patron, bearing the crest of kindhearted investors wanting to rebuild rundown houses and reconstruct rough and broken roads and paved streets in the town they took to hide. It worked for the most part, they profited from this by acting without raising any suspicion from anyone, neither the authorities nor the people.

“Christ,” Gaz swore, looking down at the words in the file he received, the teased truth and the dreadful treatments through a thick layer of secrets and subtle wording, the only clear intel was from the straightforward emails sent to and from researchers and the heads of the facility, unabashed and shameless bragging of their success and the narrative to which these subjects could be used. “Why did it take so long?”

A recurrent theme of these was about a certain subject, it was about C34, spoken with such pride and joy about their creation, the work of the new world and the future made within these walls. Most emails were the exchanges between them about C34’s training, the ongoing treatments and every successful mission and exercises, they spoke of C34 as if they were a dog, a rabid mutt they captured and took on the task of domesticating it. It was demeaning, degrading and cruel, to look at another being as something lower, something needing domestication —it went against every rule and law put in place to protect humanity, the many conventions sworn to protect the goodwill and security of the innocents.

“We’ve had our suspicions before,” Laswell sighed, the images of the screen switching with the small click of her control, laser pointing at the images of various weapons cache and illegally procured weapons. “There was a slip up in the shipping, it was dropped here-” she motioned to a circled area in the map, a closeup of a secluded road near the town, “and we were able to retrace it to the facility. We needed more intel about the facility before acting and we needed to know what we're facing here, if we should send a team or send you.”

“What now?” Price tilted his head back, smoke leaving the sides of his frown, a deep and unpleasant one. He couldn’t even look at the intel given with a straight face, the shadowed truth of cruelty and dehumanising acts done by humans. “Figured you send us after seeing this, Laswell?”

Laswell nodded, jumping to another slide, showing blurred images of subject C34, a blurry figure, tall and imposing in every way possible. They stood high, stature seemingly one belonging to a monster or hybrid: on four legs and the wide, familiar shape of wings, everything about C34 cried monster. Perhaps one they captured as a child, taken from their mother and kept in this cell. There were many pictures of this one, blurry and disfigured, but others had smaller shapes, the size of children with various characteristics.

“Steamin’ bloody Jesus!” Soap spat, disgust dripping from his tone in waves, unending as were the other’s curses, each holding their level of horror and repugnance. His face was wound tight, brows dipped lowly and lips pursed, he balled his fists, anger rising within him with every image he saw, the deplorable conditions and the care given to the monsters —what could they even expect from this shady company engineering monster and human DNA to fit their preferred narrative, for money, for reputation, for strength. “We ‘ave tae do somethin’ about this, Price!”

Soap - Johnny - had always been the more emotional one, letting his good heart lead his decisions when the situation seemed to fit it. His wolf made him more susceptible to emotional attachment, a pack mentality driven deeply into his mind and heart, he was viciously loyal and wore his heart on his sleeve, uncaring of how he’d be hurt by a betrayal, he simply saw the best in the world, something many couldn’t after a while, but Soap could, Johnny was a good man at heart. That’s why he reacted the most out of everyone, voicing his distaste and hate, his need for revenge and the sanctity of the lives being stolen in the facility.

Soap pushed Price to agree, seeing no reason not to lead the breach, to uncover everything done to innocent lives. His eyes connected to the man hidden in the darkness, his blue eyes gleaming with fierce justice, a contrast to the wraith who lay in silence, abhorrent and seething quietness. Ghost peered at him, head tilted up with white pupils darkened by black eyes, death layering off him with calmness. He gave Soap a curt nod, affirmation for him to continue to voice his mind, to help those in need.

“Seems like it’s been decided, Kate,” Price gave her a lopsided smirk, amber eyes narrowed with what could be read as anger, teeth sinking into the girth of his cigar, ash falling. “When are we going?”

Her lips parted in a proud grin, eyes gleaming with something dark and wrathful. She leaned on the table, head held high and shoulder broad while she flicked off the projector:

“Wheels up at 1500 tomorrow.”

You stared down the man before you, watching him tremble under your cold gaze, steps hesitant to approach you despite being seated, body prone on the hard floor you called a bed. He was new, possibly recently employed and his boss - or his direct manager - played a dirty game with him. It was some kind of rite of passage for every new employee courageous enough to accept their recruitment, all bright-eyed geniuses wanting to build their place on earth with forthgoing discovery, desperate and narcissistic; yet they were so easily tricked into you cage, locked in by cackling and grinning guards and coworkers.

He smelled young, fresh-faced and a bit nervous, most were when they first saw you. You remembered everyone who walked in, the smell of fear and anxiety, the disgusting scent oozing off their bodies, rotten and putrid like a rotting corpse. You would’ve gagged and choked if you weren’t used to it, having grown close to the smell of death, calling the reaper your friend. You weren’t bothered by him, only the cart he was wheeling over, a big and heavy cooler that smelled fresh. He was made to bring you food by his boss, a cruel joke played on every new scientist who was always so eager to meet you before cowering in terror once the lock clicked.

Standing before your third cage, he unlocked the small hatch and, with effort and a loud grunt, pushed the cooler into the hole, big enough for a big cooler but small enough to fit your arm through it. You waited until he stumbled away, distancing him from you before reaching for the container, it was light, weighing little in your palm. They fed you raw meat, sometimes buying the fresh catch of a Belarus hunter, usually an elk or a wild boar, but if they were lucky, a bison or a bear, other times they would have conserved meat shipped from outside the town, bigger cities or outside the border.

Today was an elk, the meat cold and free of rot, it smelled as good as a fresh kill did, bloody and heady. You ripped into it without care, tuning out the loud retch from the scientist as you gorged on your meal, claws tearing it in half and biting into the bloody meat. Blood rolled down your lip, painting your cheeks crimson and staining the cream-coloured rag they considered a shirt. It would be changed after your meal, as it always was. Despite the elk weighing around six hundred kilograms, you finished it quickly, with pointed teeth cutting and pulling flaps of meat and ligament, blood spraying and dirtying the metal ground near the hatch.

It was filling, albeit cold. You cleaned your hands of blood, licking it off like a grooming cat, tongue laving over the sharp edge of your claw and under your blunt fingernails. You peered at him from under your lashes, eyes gleaming in the darkness. You watched - pleased with yourself - him shudder, face growing green with unnerve at your show. You knew he was desperate to leave, to get a breath of fresh air outside of your cell, you understood his fear and wanted him to suffer for helping your owner, the man watching over your training, but you wanted him gone before he emptied his stomach on your floor. So you pushed the cooler out, clawed arm breaching past the hatch to leave it farther from your cage.

He left hastily, legs shaky and face pale.

“I want a bison next time,” you growled, words rolling off your tongue huskily from its rare use.

It looked as inconspicuous through the NVGs as it did in the pictures, a few grey buildings built lowly to hide an immense labyrinth dug into the ground, secret passages crossing unending halls with locked doors and tipped with surveillance cameras to watch over the whole facility. They studied the very walls that made this place a secret fortress, from the body to its heart, like mounting a brigade against a castle, Laswell’s team found the few hidden entrances that connected to the lesser-used passages, winding through many hallways and wide vents, big enough for humans but too tight for monsters the size of C34. Task Force 141 led the mission, infiltrating the base under the darkness of night where they could crawl and slink through shadows to catch what they hunted. They were joined by Marines, all experienced and skillful, wearing scars like a badge of honour. It would either be a quick in and out, or a long and strenuous infiltration.

Price took Gaz and led half of the Marines through the west, breaching the lab from above. They pushed in steadily, relaying information and physical cues to Watcher - Laswell - with a body cam recording everything they saw, the facade they wore above ground, hiding their dark enterprise. Ghost, as usual, has Soap watch his six, following closely behind him with puppy-like loyalty and the other half of the Marines. Team Two’s - Delta - mission started through the underground passage they sniffed out, a long and unwinding hall that went straight through the heart of the facility. Ghost’s team went dark, needing the cover of silence to stay hidden in a highly protected area of the base to run this clandestine mission. They spoke only when needing to, to make calls, to reaffirm intel or to let both Bravo and Watcher know a change, the tech team in the temporary safe house a few miles away from the compound watched through the cams, from the subtle change in the air to a jarring lead to what was happening.

While Price and Gaz worked on creating a distraction, taking a load off team Delta’s shoulders, they could work through the system faster and more efficiently with the fire taken off their backs and front. It was controlled chaos for both teams, creating a mass discordance within the enemy lines: panicked higher-ups at the sudden attack, while they had a small squad of personal soldiers, they were unprepared, taken by surprise by both teams attacking on two fronts; and confused mercenaries, their quiet and boring schedules made them lose the edge of suspicion, of wariness towards what awaited them and the sheltered job with little to no action apart from a few failed escape attempts by the subjects.

“Delta 0-1 moving in,” Ghost mumbled into the coms, his team following him closely, rifle held tightly with the muzzle pointed forward as they crossed the threshold of section C, heading towards the one holding the monster subjects.

They left behind them groups of bodies, slumped over the walls or limp on the ground, blood painting the sterilised and glossy walls, turning the once white hall into a grotesque place, dead bodies covering the length of the corridor like the ones they walked through before, leaving the stench of death that even the Marines could sniff out. It wasn’t clean - they weren’t aiming for it to be clean - but they wouldn’t need it to be clean when the Laswell would send a clean-up team to deal with this, Ghost would steal a bite before they arrived, quenching his hunger for revenge with them.

A few guards stayed to watch over the cells, doors unlocked by a keycard that most guards kept in their back pocket, Ghost would have to take one off a dead body. Under Ghost’s cover, Soap dashed to the other side of the hall, taking a few with him to corner the mercenaries, boxing them into a closed hallway until they all died. Despite a few of the Marines taking shots, bruising the skin under their plate, black and blue blossoming like a bloody flower under the thin layer of skin, they kept their heads high and minds clear, moving forward without a misstep or hesitation. Soap swiped a few cards from the bodies, throwing one to Ghost.

“Delta 0-1 to Watcher, can you hear me?”

“Solid copy, Ghost,” Laswell voice rang out clearly, reaching his ears in seconds.

“We found the cells,” his eyes roved over them, white paint over thick, cement walls to hold whatever they locked into the cells, perhaps the children the saw or the big one, C34.

“Do you have the keycards?”

“Affirm,” Ghost growled slowly, hearing Laswell's confirmation to continue. “Going in.”

He tapped the pad, a loud beep ringing in their ears as the lock’s mechanism creaked to life, unlatching from its metal hold to let them in. Both he and Soap walked in, leaving the others to watch their backs while they surveyed the first room. It was dimly lit as it was bare of any decorations apart from a visible toilet, a small sink and a few metal beds. It looked like any usual cells they came across, made barren and empty of anything useful to prevent the prisoners from escaping or causing a ruckus, but the people they kept in these cells were children. Soap swore under his breath at the sight of children huddled together, seemingly no older than 12, he lowered his rifle. They were backed into a corner, three older kids holding a younger one in their arms, protecting her from them, from whoever meant to harm these children.

They looked malnourished, left to slowly rot in these cement boxes until the scientist found something worthwhile in them, their cheeks sunken in, eyes droopy and swollen with bruises - they were beaten, it made something ugly rear its head inside Ghost dead heart - and lips dried. One was armless, having wings that they used to cover both of their cellmates, naked with only feathers covering their body, this one looked more like a harpy than it did human. The two others had arms, both having the lower half of a mammal, neither of them was sure which four-legged mammal it was, but one had a pair of wings, while the other’s back was bare of anything.

“We’ve found the children.”

You could hear the chaos from your cell, the blaring alarm and the smell of death. The building shook from its foundation, vibration emanating from both the ground floor and the basement, just farther from your hall, the closed and sectioned-off area. They separated you from the defective ones, all your young mistakes they made after achieving success —you. They tried to recreate it, but it never came out how they wanted it. Maybe it was a mistake on their part or maybe it was the lack of a certain gene in their DNA, a subtle difference that you and the rest had. You didn’t want to know and you didn’t want them to succeed a second time, it was painful, the shift, the tests and the change, the storm of pain, terror and confusion weren’t worth this power.

You could hear the booming sound of gunfire, a loud ricochet of the bullet when the nitrocellulose sparked and sent the bullet outwards, finding its destination in the warm flesh of human guards. You usually enjoyed this kind of chaos if you knew what started it, and laughed when something caused trouble for your captors, but you were cautious of this one. You neither knew who thought to disturb the peace nor did you know who was behind this, their scents strange and the sound of steps unknown. All you knew was that their steps were heavy, out of breath but pushing their way into - what you thought to be - section C. The place they kept the young and willful.

You might be blinded by your cell, but the guards outside your confinement knew how to talk, their chatter and barking orders loud enough for you to hear through the thick walls. From them, you knew they were strangers, unknown players on your board of pawns. You didn’t know their goal, whether they were here to let you out or keep you in a cage of their making, but you knew they were a gamble on your fate. As the noise got closer, you sat down, crossed your paws and waited, cautiously awaiting to see what your verdict would be.

Strangely enough, there was a different section, separated from the other one by many gates and stricter security, but they were able to break through it. Security was concentrated in one hall as if the monster they locked at the end of this hallway was of big importance. It had higher security, stronger and thicker. Ghost wondered if it was to keep the monster in or keep people out, either way, this meant that they found the thing they first came here for: the trained and dangerous subject C34.

Ghost was apprehensive about opening this metal door, built taller than any doors he’d seen, it was as wide as it was tall, metres over what would be considered normal for a human or monster, similar to the wide gates that protected British castles, tall and imposing, but the most worrying was it’s vast amount of security measures. He thought back to the blurrier giant he saw in the picture, their shape indescribable and otherworldly, almost alien-like. His eyes met Soap’s reassuring ones, standing steadfast and unyielding to do good in the world. So with a nod, Ghost worked through the locks and scans of the heavy, metal door made to keep this cement cage closed. This door clicked loudly, echoing down the hall with ominous intent, foreseeing something damming and destructive.

Yet they hadn’t expected to see another cage within the cage, a box made of reinforced glass, large and robust and inside of it was another cage, a rough metal one with bars for walls, a sick joke of a bird’s gilded cage. It would’ve seemed almost exaggerated to have three layers - three different cages - to keep one subject safely locked up until he caught sight of the monster. Lying on the cold, metal ground with legs folded in, tail curled around them and staring at both him and Soap with cautious curiosity. It looked like a gryphon if it were more reptilian than a mammal, this monster had a human torso, a head wearing a stoic expression, dressed in rags. Where there would normally be legs was the body of a bird, an eagle perhaps from the golden-brown plumage and reptilian legs from the knee down, followed by a fully scaled back, hind legs and a strong tail. Each toe was tipped with a sharp claw, big and deadly if it got its hands on someone, it could easily rip into anyone without putting in much effort. The biggest thing about it was the folded wings, feathered and equipped with a talon. If it could fly, these wings would be powerful.

He understood why they kept it locked, it was neither man, monster or hybrid. It was a beast of human creation, a creature made to be at the peak of its condition. It was smart, he could see it, the glint in its eyes and the pursed lips, mien kept monotone and calm —observant.

What did Laswell sign them into?

Taglist: @craxy-person @crowbird @dead-cipher @iwannabealocalcryptid @iizx7y @mxtokko @yeetusspagheetus @capricorn-anon @perfectus-in-morte @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @tallmanlover @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @vxnilla-hxrddrugs @havoc973 @angelcakes-22 @cassiecasluciluce @ramadiiiisme @ramblingsofachaoticthinker @ki-cant-spel @im-making-an-effort @love-dove-noora @jinxxangel13 @daisychainsinknots @0alk0msan @mul-pi @danielle143 @dont-mind-me-just-existing-sadly

958 notes View Post

mystic60

1 year ago

Please Share

Hey guys, unfortunately I am asking for any help on covering the cost of my sister's medical bill.

Recently my sister found out she has cervical cancer and is about to start treatments asap. Her workplace was kind enough to start her a gofundme for the insane medical bill that is chemotherapy and cancer treatments. I wanted to share the link around to anyone willing to pitch in.