Sup my Descendants!
We're so thankful for all of you reading this.
We love all of you that follow, favorite, and most importantly review us!
As excited as you guys are when we post a chapter, I would put money on me and Dark being more excited when we get to hear your thoughts.
So Dorian finally decided to start moving again, and good news! We're going through the tropical storm level rain and winds, but yay no property damage.
So we're at it again today, hanging out and writing!
Super excited about this new book! Hopefully, you guys will be too!
We've come up with a lot of plot for it. And unlike the last write through there will be more jumps to the Core Four. Maybe even some early Ben introspection.
We'll see! Hopefully, you guys won't hate us by the end of this book, it's gonna be a doozy. ;)
-Dark and Twisted
A walk down the stairs later...
Mal waits until T and she's out the front door and halfway to the hideout before she grabs the front of T's collar and pulls him down the darkest alley, "What the fuck was all that about you dumb, fucking cunt." She demands as she too easily tosses T into a wall and pins him there.
"The first of many steps to me finally growing a pair?" T responds dryly, with a raised brow.
"I thought you were over your fucking death wish." Mal groans as she releases T to press her hands against the pain forming at her temples. A pain she was starting to associate with T.
"Yeah, well it came back with a vengeance," T shrugs, as he casually straightens, "So might as well see how far it gets me."
"So you bargain to get Deez tossed out of my gang?" Mal glares up at the taller boy, teeth bared.
"Like she won't be instantly fucking scooped up." T rolls his eyes. "We both know she fucking loves you guys, but the Sea Three is where she belongs… And since you have no control of who is, or isn't in your gang anymore, I gave your mother little option but to look in my direction."
"Yeah, I'll fucking say you did. And Hades, you fucking dipshit. Didn't you hear him? Not only has he taken an interest in you, but he also remembered that he has a daughter and is going to grab her now!" She hisses as she presses her elbow in his ribcage.
"It's not like he wouldn't have remembered her eventually anyway. At least you know when the next time is happening now." T huffs, as he leans into the wall and slides down it just enough to make pinning him easier on the much shorter girl.
"Oh yeah, I know, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?" Mal snaps her back straight and takes a deep breath as her eyes dimly flicker between her normal green to the same bright acid green as her mother.
"The same thing you'd do any time she's summoned?" T shrugs, "Two weeks tops and comforting her won't be your problem." He adds bluntly.
Mal lets out an animalistic growl, pressing her elbow hard enough to bruise before she rolls her eyes. "Why the fuck would you agree to go spy on Shan Yu? Of all the fucking stupid shit you've done… that… You're… this is so fucking stupid."
"Yeah, well, tard remember" T shrugs, "And fuck it. Stupid sounds great right now."
"One of these days your fuck its are going to get you killed," Mal grumbles.
"And?" He responds darkly.
Mal furrows her brow at T before she pulls back and slams her first into T's nose, hardly caring that she'd landed a perfect uppercut in her rage.
T's blinks away the reflexive tears, but besides that doesn't respond. He doesn't even try to block the blood dripping down his nose. He just shrugs. "I was just agreeing with you."
"What the fuck happened to you?" Mal shakes her head as she steps back and looks T over. Her eyes running over him in concern. Something she couldn't put her finger on bothering the shit outta her. But it's not till he's studying her that she's finally able to discern what it was. She can't help the way she steps back in warily. It was rare that someone caught T with his hood down, but the kid had grown comfortable enough with her to let it slip more often the years. She swallows, throat dry with something that marred the lines between scared and worried, but today? Right now. She couldn't even see the boy she'd grown fond of bantering with through the years. His emerald orbs, usually so annoyingly playful and obnoxiously carefree, were so… Hard. Dark. Like ice.
Her eyes narrowed as she tries to think of the last time she'd seen him. It had been weeks. But there was no way in fuck one of her gang wouldn't have mentioned such a drastic change. So that meant something had happened recently. She just for the life of her couldn't imagine what. Part of her, the selfish part, didn't even want to know. "I asked you a fucking question." She stomps her foot in frustration.
This so wasn't her fucking field of expertise. Though honestly the more she thought about it, the happier she was that she was the one experiencing this. Whatever the fuck this was.
T huffs as he looks away, wiping away the blood with the sleeve of his hoodie without so much as a flinch at the pain she knew he had to be feeling.
"Some shit finally clicked into place and gave me a whole new perspective on my life." He shrugs, "So I figured fuck it. If I'm going out, it's gonna be my way. Cause fuck them."
Mal narrows her eyes. It honestly wasn't that different philosophy from hers, fuck what everyone else thought. She was gonna do shit her way. Or at least that's what she kept telling everyone. Telling herself even. "Yeah, but at what fuckin' cost you damn fucking idiot." She hisses at him as she punches his shoulder with everything she had. Her eyes narrow when he doesn't flinch or reflexively cover his arm.
"Seriously?! What the fuck is wrong with you." Her foot lands solidly against his calf. Her anger fanning when all he does is stumble. That stupid blank expression still fucking on his face. And here she thought his smirks and taunting grins set her blood on fire.
"Don't worry about it Mal," T pushes off the wall, "I'm not gonna do anything else to put your group at risk. Just wanted Deez where she belonged, instead of just sitting in my room and staring at my door waiting for him to get home, so the two of us can finally fucking talk about the last however many years I was supposed to be stuck in that stupid church."
"You're a part of my group too, you stupid fucking tard."
"No, I'm not." T states evenly, "Not really…" He lets out a heavy sigh, "I just-"
"Fuck you." It hurt that T could so easily reject her. Hurt that her offer had gotten more of an actual response than her abuse. She doesn't even think twice as she backhands him out of complete and utter frustration and hurt. But when he turns back to her his face is still blank. His eyes still hard.
Mother fucking damn it all to hell! Where the fuck was her second. Jay would be way better at handling whatever the fuck this was. Fuck if one of them was walking down the street she'd throw him at a rat. She didn't fucking care. But after all the shit he pulled this morning, and all the crap he'd put her through the years… Did the last several years mean so fucking little to him? Was this his plan all along? She immediately discards the idea. It didn't make sense. None of this made fucking sense. She takes a long breath, neither commenting on how shaky it was.
"Look freak, I said you fucking are. So you fucking are. You're the stupid asshole who decided to fucking wheel and deal his stupid ass into it. So shut the fuck up and deal with it."
T opens his mouth to argue before he finds himself thrown off balance with an elbow to his throat. "I. Fucking dare you. To say anything. Short of yes Mal,"
T opens his mouth only to close it, and look away.
"Fucking great!" Mal snarls, pushing aside the hurt that T, fucking T of all people, would opt to shut up instead of uttering something as simple as yes. Hell, she would've preferred him to fucking argue over that stunt. It was almost more insulting.
"At least we know where your line with death ends." She adds bitterly. "I don't know what the fuck this is T, but you better fix whatever the fuck is happening with you before you step close to fucking Carlos and E." She threatens him. She couldn't even imagine what their actions would be like if they saw T like this. She just had a feeling it would end with a new wardrobe and a fucking spotless hang out.
She lets out a hiss of annoyance when she suddenly realizes that she's shaking. She steps back before dropping her arms, hoping to her mother he didn't feel it. What was this? Fear? Anger? Rejection? Confusion? Concern? She didn't have to know the name to know she fucking hated it. And hated T for making her feel it so powerfully. In the same breath, she noticed something felt like it was ripping at her chest. "I don't want to deal with them because they have such shitty judgment of who they consider friends." She hisses.
"Well better prep them for the worst Mal." T stares down at her, with a coldness that made her blood freeze as she struggles to form a coherent word.
Even when they met the kid had never been so… Blatant about his death wish. Sure he'd acted on it, a lot even. Fuck that's how they met. She was still pissed the kid had pulled that fucking stunt. It fucking took balls she didn't have to jump on a flaming Hyades, especially back then. It had made her feel so fucking small and inferior. Reminded her that he only had to do that because she'd acted stupidly in an attempt to win her mother's praise.
And for what? A girl that- Okay she didn't exactly hate being in her gang, but she didn't love it either. It was fucking conflicting. But so not the fucking point right now. She bites the inside of her cheek.
It had been so long since he'd been like that she'd just chalked it up to not being able to handle shit. And it seemed to go away as he became less reserved… But she'd seen T handle shit most of them wouldn't be stupid enough to face, time and time again with that same stupid shit-eating grin, like he was still having the time of his life even in the middle of a shit storm. So what the fuck had done this to him?
What the fuck could've possibly doused the life out of someone's eyes so effectively?
T narrows his eyes before he puts a finger under her chin and gently closes her mouth before he looks away. The action so oddly intimate and uncharacteristic she's left floored. What the fuck was that? And where the fuck was her T? She never thought she'd miss that stupid devil-may-care smirk so much.
"Cause it's gonna go down between me and the ol' man sooner rather than later. And I ain't- I can't-" a low guttural growl leaves his throat, "Whatever, fuck it, I just need to fucking do this. I'm fucking done."
Mal blinks up at T in confusion, "T, I-" She takes a deep breath in and slowly releases it before she takes a step back and looks him over again. "Look," Her voice wavering with uncertainty, "I really want to understand what that means, but you are really making this difficult," She wanted to punch him again, but this time for making her feel so damn confused and weak. She just couldn't muster the energy. The memory of the one training session they shared still haunted her. It bothered how good he was at hiding shit, made her jealous at one point even, but now? Now… She bites her lip feeling for all the world like the lost kid she was. This is what hell must really feel like. She swallows "and I really fucking suck at feelings." She couldn't explain it, didn't know where it was coming from, but she had a bad feeling hanging on her like a wet blanket.
T at least has the decency to drop his eyes. "Look Mal, I'm just being fucking honest. I'm sick of all these fucking lies consuming my god damn stupid ass life. I'm sick of it. Sick of all of it. And I need answers-" His voices catches, "I just need fucking answers-" His knuckles turning white as they clenched into fists at his sides.
Mal steps back, cringing at her action. In all the years she'd known T, and for all the times she'd hit, kick, smack, go way too hard in combat, and hell, even just broke his nose- She swallows. He'd never once retaliated. Fuck. Her eyes widen. Had she ever actually seen T angry. Her eyes sweep over him. For the life of her she couldn't remember him so much as punching a wall or even kicking a rock out of frustration. She blinks, her tongue rolling over her suddenly dry lips. But this didn't seem like it was just anger. It couldn't be. She felt rage on the daily...
"Okay, okay!" Mal holds out her hands, in an odd gesture of submission she usually only reserved for one of Carlos' fits. "I get that. I can totally get wanting answers. That makes sense." So why did he look as lost as she currently felt? "And lies, yeah, fuck them. I hate those too." She attempts to coax softly, she slowly walks closer to him. Some unknown force from her subconscious driving her closer to him. T doesn't scare me. She catches him swallow hard, noting for the first time he was shaking as well before he shoves his hands in his pockets. "And it's worse when it comes from my mother." She couldn't explain what she did next if you put a sword to her throat, but perhaps with a slight deathwish of her own she places her hand on T's shoulder. Shocked her heartbeat could reach her throat.
To her utter embarrassment she can't help the flinch as T's tense muscle twitches under her hand so strongly she'd jumped to the conclusion he was going to strike her.
He doesn't even comment though. He just tilts his head to the side the way he did when he was confused as his eyes dart between her and her hand. That was good.
That was another thing she'd always despised about T. He never took easy shots. If he'd been the one to flinch in this situation she'd have been all over that, calling him a pussy and saying other cruel shit. Then again, maybe the action caught him off guard and made him speechless? "I can get wanting all of those things."
"Not like this, you don't," T mutters darkly.
If looks could kill she felt like she'd be a puddle of blood on the dirt right now. She wasn't even sure she'd felt ever felt so much relief at the loss of eye contact. Not even after the first time her mother used that stupid fae eye shit on her.
"Agree." Mal squeezes his arm experimentally like Jay usually did for her. It usually made her feel better even if she'd rather keel over than ever admit that out loud. "Totally agree." She nods slowly, "But could you uh like… I don't know, maybe, make me understand better or something?" She asks, hating how unsure she sounded but desperately needing to get rid of the feelings and sensations.
T studies her for a moment, the briefest ghost of a smile on his lips, the sight more annoying and painful than it was relieving. The ripping in her chest starts to morph into a snake as it constricts her heart.
T shifts his weight as he lets out a soft sigh and bows his head away from her, the shadow from his hood making his features completely unreadable. "Thank you," He swallows, mouth clearly as dry as hers, "For wanting to try…But this isn't something I want to talk about. It's something I need to do. And realistically, I'm not sure how it's going to play out, so fuck it, might as well do what I can while I can."
"Okay…" This was going better than she thought it would. Still awkward. Like painfully awkward. And she still felt lost, but something was telling her T wasn't feeling that much different than her at the moment. Which was some fucking relief at least. "Fair. Not wanting to talk is fair…." She squeezes his shoulder a little tighter, surprised that the muscle hadn't relaxed yet. "But T... it's sounding like you think you're not coming back, but your you so-"
"Would you come back if you confronted your mother?" T lifts his head enough to watch her from the comfort of the shadows.
Lucky bastard. She knew she looked foolish. And Evil Queen help her if her mother found out what she was currently doing so close to her domain. Her eyes dart around suspiciously only to sigh when she sees they hadn't drawn any lingering eyes at least. She wished she had more shadows to hide behind. "I don't know T… It's never even crossed my mind, how could I have even thought to try. But-" She bites her lips and closes her eyes, before she sighs, "I know I'm luckier than most. My mother dumps on me. Battles me when she knows I can't win. Orders me to do shit I don't want to do and makes me feel like shit for not being her, and being half-human. But at the end of the day, I can live with that."
T frowns as he looks away, "Yeah, but that's you Mal," He struggles to say evenly, "But mine does shit I can't live with. And I'm fucking sick of it. I'm just fucking over living in fucking fear all the damned fucking time. Running back home to be ready for him every night like a dog with a fucking bell. I can't handle it any fucking more. I understand too fucking much too handle it anymore. And over my dead body is he going to come looking for me, screaming and hollering for his missing fucking toy, when you know exactly who the fuck he is."
"Then take us with you! Take Deez, fuck, invite the rats! Anyone you fucking trust" A burning sensation slips up the back of her throat, she sucked at this, but she couldn't just pass this off to someone else. T was right in front of her, and as much as she hated it, T was scaring her, and she found herself desperately thinking of anything she could possibly say that would help, knowing deep down that her words couldn't do shit, "I wouldn't want to face my mother alone, I'd… I'd feel better with back up."
A look of disgust twists on his lips at the mere concept as he pulls back just far enough that he doesn't pull her off of him. The first emotion she finally sees on his face. "Fuck that shit." He scoffs, "Look Mal, I'm really sick of fucking lying, so straight up, I just can't. I can't. I couldn't live with you guys knowing all of it, either way. I'd run, straight up bolt, and abandon you guys the minute any of you were in the same room with the two of us." He swallows, as he looks up at the sky. "But I need to finally face this shit-"
"But you're not alone T!" Mal screams in frustration, "You're not alone you dumb psycho cunt. You fucking wiggled your damn way into our lives, and now you're not alone and we can't lose you!" Both of her hands clasp around his arm in a vice-like grip, as much to her surprise as to his.
"It's not about being alone or not." T shifts in discomfort. "It's about being comfortable in my fucking skin Mal." He shakes his head. "Before last week, I didn't even realize how fucking much of my life was a fucking lie. Just a disgusting boldface fucking lie." His voice cracks with restrained emotion. "And I need fucking answers."
"You're not talking about the lies about who you are," Mal shuts her eyes in sudden, jarring understanding, "the lies you tell us, are you."
The laughter that leaves T's lips is jarring and hollow.
"I fucking wish they were that fucking stupid. I really do Mal. But, ah, shit ain't ever that fucking simple." He scoffs, the sound full of self-deprecation. "Look, I ain't planning on fucking going out to that disgusting fuck, but it's complicated because it's not… I just.. A lot of hard truths hit me at once. Hard. Fucking Truths." His muscle somehow seems to coil tighter under her hands, "And I need to fucking confront this shit, or I'm never going to be able to ever look myself in the mirror again. And after all the shit I've done, all the shit I put up with, all the pain I put myself through to keep- To keep him from knowing I got out. I fucking deserve answers Mal. I'm sorry, I know no one ever deserves shit, but I've fucking earned it. Walked through hell and back for them, and I'm not sure there's ever returning from where I've been. I just, why can't I have this one thing? I've never really asked for anything for myself before so why's it a big deal to ask to handle one thing? I'd rather deal with it than shove one more fucking thing in a box ever the fuck again, Mal."
"Yeah, it never is simple is it?" Mal stares up at the sky, hoping to nothing particular that someone, anyone, besides her could walk down the road right now and finish this discussion without making shit worse. Because from where she was standing she was the one starting to look like the ass hole. Why did he have to sound as lost as he appeared? How was that fucking fair? "Look," She wets her lips. "I don't understand everything," She slowly releases her vice grip, "but I can understand needing to face something or not being able to look at yourself or live with yourself." She looks away from T, as she wraps her arms around her aching chest protectively. "Fine. Go. But first… There is always a way back. You're willing to pay the price for answers, great, but you make sure your ass can pay the price to come back too. Because I do not want to feel your loss, and I really don't want to fucking tell the others either."
"It's not me I'm worried about. I'm more confident now, more than ever that I can handle her father. If it was that easy to slip into your mother's room and wait until she woke up to me playing with a dagger and square off with her," He shrugs, "I can fucking face Frollo, all day every day. My ability to protect others has never been something I questioned. But time to be a real fucking man, and stop being such a damn liar and fucking hypocrite and actually stand up for myself, for once in my damn fucking life. I'm sick of being terrified of some disgusting frail old man who can't even make his own medicine without her fucking help. It just took the final piece of the puzzle to click into place. And then I fucking scrambled to pull it back out, but it doesn't work like that-" He sucks his teeth, "So here the fuck we are."
Mal nods, "Just promise you'll ask for h-" She clears her throat, pursing her lips before she can continue, though her face was screwed up as if she were in physical pain, "-help, if you can't do it alone. And come back."
T frowns, "I refuse to be killed by that man. I fucking refuse."
"Good… Just hold on to that. Don't lose it, don't deathwish on me again."
"Heard." T nods with a frown, "My bad, just you know, in case she gets in the way, I want to do as much good as I could. It's been five days, and shit's just getting worse with every day I'm forced to wait to confront him." He lets out a bitter laugh, "But I definitely learned a lesson you'll appreciate. Don't open doors without fucking knocking."
Mal bites her lip, finding that to be a strange lesson for T to just be learning, "Do I even want to know?" That seemed like a safe question versus the thousands of questions she both did want to ask, but at the same time wanted to bleach from her mind so she'd never think about it again.
T shrugs, "Just, ya know, have never regretted something so much in my fucking life is all. Something in me is definitely going to be broken in a way I can't fix without the answers I need… I um… When it hit me, I'm not gonna lie, I think I kinda snapped a bit...And I don't think I can do life feeling this much like a fucking failure."
Failure?
Is that what got under this kid's skin? Made him so...Fucking intense, brooding and calculating? It didn't make sense. She'd seen T fail so much through the years. First at swords. Then at video games. And catching balls. Lifting weights. Sneaking up on people. Which she knew he secretly got off on. Comforting people, much to her utter loathing at the time. And so many other things he'd failed time and time again, only to keep getting back up. Like a fucking weighted balloon that refused to tip over. What the fuck could he have possibly failed at so miserably to make him react like this to a singular failure? It was baffling.
"Heard. Good to know." She would have to ask her people if any of them had possibly been doing something potentially traumatizing behind a closed, but not locked, door recently. It was exhausting dealing with T on a normal day, but today? This? It was just so utterly draining and confusing. She at least trusted that it wasn't his end goal to die… So what else could she do besides trust him to do what he'd always done? Keep to his fucking word.
But then why did she still feel so hollow as she watched him walk away. She holds on to herself tighter as she goes to lean against the wall, utterly exhausted once T blends into the crowd.
Why was it that every time he was honest with her it seemed to put more distance between them? Make him seem so much… more composed, and unaffected than she could ever wish to be? And why did it make her question wanting to be that way? Wasn't that what her mother had always wanted from her? To be cold, unnecessarily hurtful, and reserved. This was the most enraged she'd ever seen him, over one tiny fucking failure in the heaps of them he'd experienced?
Must have been one serious fucking failure. She rubs her hands up and down her arms to chase away a chill that she already knew couldn't be warmed.
Part of her just wanted to sweep everything she'd learned under a rug and label it one more debt paid off to T… But that seemed a little too much like an excuse this time.
She wanted to never talk about it again. She chews her lip. But if the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach was any indication, she knew she couldn't just push this off to the side to never see the light of day again. Her gang would never forgive her if something happened to their stupid little black sheep.
Ugh. She sighs as she stares up at the roiling clouds above her. Why was nothing ever fucking simple?
T is seriously putting these two leaders through the wringer. Both are developing headaches just from talking to the kid.
Are you happy T's finally opening up, or do you feel like this is more slipping up?
Poor Mal, she never knows how to handle T… The kid just always seems to bring out the worst of her temper. What did you think of her reactions?
Was she appropriately violent?
The right mix of angry and confused?
What do you guys think of what T told Mal?
What do you think Mal's going to do when she finally puts together the pieces of what T just info dumped on her? Will it be too late? Or will she be able to stop T from doing something so reckless?
T…
He's having a fucking week, isn't he?
That's two leaders now that he just confused the fuck out of.
Much love and appreciation
-Twisted
P.S.
To DevinN and any other concerned T fans;
We're sorry that T's so out of character right now, but he just got hit by a proverbial 18 wheeler truck.
But when you first learn shit like that, you just aren't yourself for a while. We actually toned down how batshit he could've been.
