#ems200

You had known him for years and you were one of the people he spent the most of his time with, you liked talking after work and deep into the night, you had your own room in his house, even if you had your own home only a few streets away.

Alfie was a kind man and it was a blessing that he had a cook, because neither of you really had the time to do so yourself.

You weren’t Alfie’s assistant but you did a lot of work in his company, working closely with Ollie and Alfie to ensure the smooth running of his company.

You were proud of what you did, proud of Alfie, and you were in love with him as well.

Neither of you had ever actually said or done anything about it but you both knew that you had feelings for one another, it was obvious in the way you cared for each other or the way you touched, talked and smiled at each other.

You were just generally happier when Alfie was around and he was generally less grumpy when you were with him, occasionally Ollie chose to talk to him only when you were in the room, in fear of Alfie’s quickly heated temper.

Alfie Solomons was a beautiful soul, a kind and caring family oriented man with a fierce and ruthless side, a man that didn’t take shit from anyone and that always cared to think of what was best for everyone.

Not only that but he was educated and politically interested, keeping his eye out for everyone and everything that might do harm.

The moment Hitler started his speeches in the Hofbräukeller in Munich Alfie knew that no good could come from it, and as usual he had been right.

Alfie really cared, and so he started to plan an operation to smuggle Jews out of the country as soon as the first antisemitic comments were made.

At first you had hoped that it would only stay a plan, that you didn’t have to step in but you did have to, it was to save lives after all.

It had all been Alfie’s idea and you were so in awe of him for it, for his compassion, knowledge, courage and love for the people and for the fact that he payed for the operation out of his own pocket.

He could certainly afford it but it still was very impressive.

He was a kind and clever man and the operation went well, the people he had sent to Germany and that were working for him there were brave and careful, but not quite careful enough.

After over a year of unproblematic smuggling Alfie came to you with a heavy heart, his mind weary of longtime pondering.

“‘Ve been waitin’ for three days now, there’s no message from our people ‘n Germany, the families they took in should be here by now”, he said after another day of long and hard work and you nodded, worried as well as you heard the bad news.

You were silent as you thought about it but you couldn’t come up with anything that might have helped the situation, which was why you addressed Alfie.

“What do you intend to do now?”, you asked him carefully, and Alfie sighed as he let his fingers run through his beard in a contemplative gesture.

“Yeah see”, he started speaking in a manner that was so typically Alfie, holding all of your attention as you watched him closely.

“I’ve been thinking ‘bout that”, he said, nodding at you and watching you with a look that promised nothing good would come from it.

“I’ve been thinking, right, and I d’cided that I need to send someone back there to check on ‘em”, he said, earning an agreeing nod from you.

Alfie took his time to answer as he studied the glass of whiskey he had poured himself earlier before taking a sip, after which he looked at you again.

“I need someone I trust to do it, ‘nd there’s no one I trust more ‘n you”, he said, but this time you didn’t nod.

You didn’t want to go to Germany, you were scared to see what was waiting for you when you got there but you trusted Alfie, and you knew that if he asked it of you it was important for you to do what he asked.

You were both silent thinking of the implied journey you would take, but you knew you would do as he asked.

After a week of radio silence you left home for Germany, on a mission to help the people whose sole wish was to survive.

Alfie stayed in contact with you when you reached the French shore and when you crossed the border to Germany, making sure that you were alright.

After that Alfie grew more and more restless, sleeping less and losing his temper so often that Ollie felt obligated to ask why.

Alfie looked desperate and downright miserable when he answered him, his eyes bloodshot and hair and beard messy, it was a wonder he was still able to keep working.

Ollie knew you had gone to Germany but that was all the information he had so far, until Alfie filled him in.

“I haven’t heard from Germany yet”, he implied your communicational silence, something that was very unlike you and that couldn’t mean anything good.

Ollie was silent and so was Alfie, his head in his hands that rested with his elbows on the table.

Alfie looked downright miserable and even Ollie felt a fear crawl up inside him thinking of what might have happened to you.

When Alfie looked back up at him he had tears blurring his vision, and Ollie felt sorry for the older man.

“‘Trusted me, and I failed”, Ollie could make out from the words Alfie mumbled into his beard, too exhausted and scared to speak properly.

Alfie watched the man in his misery, not able to do anything else about it.

There was a silence that lasted a while until Alfie finally spoke up again, after painful minutes of waiting that felt like torture.

Alfie looked broken and Ollie knew that he was, angry, frustrated and above all helpless as well.

“Shouldn’t ‘ve asked that”, he whispered, looking back up at Ollie again.

Now he could see the tears staining his boss’s cheeks before they vanished in the hair of his beard.

“History obliterates, and in every picture it paints, it paints me and all my mistakes”, the tired bearded man sighed aloud as his eyes met his assistant’s, and all Ollie could see was the deepest, darkest regret.

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“What keeps your thoughts so far away, my lady?”

Aethelflaed blinked, allowing his words to break through her reverie.  

Erik slid his large hands around her waist to rest atop her stomach and pressed a kiss to her dark hair.  Turning to meet his gaze, she couldn’t stop the corners of her lips slipping into a sad, gentle smile.  Tenderly, she cupped his face and leaned her forehead to rest against his shoulder.  She sighed, answering his words.

“I was thinking that God is cruel.”  

Aethelflaed breathed in with the rise and fall of his chest.  

“Cruel?” He questioned.  “What do you mean by this?”

Aethelflaed tilted her head back to meet his eye, “Do your Gods not set your paths before you?  Do you not believe in fate?”  

She searched his eyes, finding only curiosity and ardor.  After a few heartbeats, she felt the hum in his chest as he nodded in the truth of her pondering. 

Assuming that was all the reply she would receive, and not sure if she desired more than that, Aethelflead turned her body once more, her back resting against his large chest.  She let her gaze wander to rest once more on the scene outside her window. The harbor with its hundreds of floating vessels ready to invade, plunder, and ravage her people’s way of life. 

At least that is how she was brought up to believe. In earnest, what she still believed of many of the Danish men she had the misfortune to meet. But Erik had flipped all of her suppositions on their head. 

Leaning her back further in to rest against his chest, she was surprised when she heard his deep voice speak. 

Erik sighed, “Yes, this is true. Many Danes believe that the Gods set our fates.  That our paths are weaved as a thread by the Norns into the tapestry of the tree of Yggdrasil.  Creating its roots and thus forming the world.”

Aethelflaed closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift along with his words. Content to hear the lore of his people and let the timber of his voice quell her fears. If only for a moment in time. She breathed in deeply. The heady musk of him allowing her to further sink into his calm. 

“I know it is something my brother believes.  For him, The Allfather has grand fates for the sons of Thurgil.  We are to be renowned warlords. Men should fear us and follow us.”

He paused for a moment as if debating his next words.  Quietly, slowly, unsure if he wanted to hear her reply, Erik spoke once more, “Do you think your God bringing your path to meet mine was an act of malice?”

Aethelflaed sat up, spinning to face him, hurt plain on her face that he would think this was her meaning.

“No,” she protested quickly, her hand once more reaching to take his face gently, “that is not what I meant.  At least,” she paused, gathering her thoughts, “not in the manner you may be thinking.”

She paused, waiting for him to bring his eyes up. To meet her own.  It took only a heartbeat before he did so, searching her face.  

Without meaning to, she felt the corners of her mouth ghost up into another sad smile.  Slowly, she brought her other palm up to rest along his cheek, keeping his face between her hands.

“Before meeting you, Erik,” she started only to pause and swallow down a tear, “before you, I was alone.  I was a frozen lake.  But then you melted me awake.  I was lifeless and cold. A captive in my own life. I lived moving from room to room without being present in any of them.  Aethelred held me like that frozen lake. A thing to be witnessed, maybe marveled at for its proximity to power, but not to be alive. To be free and flowing. 

But you,” she enunciated her words, calm and sure, “you, my sweet Erik, have brought a thaw in the midst of winter. You have turned that frozen girl back into the movement of life.”

She felt the lump in her throat grow seeing the way his eyes lit with love at the sound of her words.  Overcome with emotion, she folded herself into him, wrapping her arms around his muscled torso and resting her forehead against his chest.  She took a stuttering breath, but when she continued her words were clear.  She did not falter.

“Meeting you, loving you has been the single greatest joy of my heart. But knowing that fate, that the will of your Gods or mine, brings us here, together, only to face our own people, our families fighting and killing one another. That is a cruel fate. Worse than death,” she sobbed as her words were muffled by Erik’s lips pressing kisses along her mouth, her jaw, her temple, her face. 

These were not the kisses of passion and desire they had shared before. These kisses held a power. A depth of love and devotion and a promise. 

Pulling himself back, Erik held Aethelflaed’s face gently between his palms, mirroring her comforting gesture from moments before.  Softly, he trailed his thumbs in gentle circles, soothing and calm.

“I know, my love.  An uncertain future can be a daunting one.  But I will not allow my path to stray from yours.  I swear it.  I will not be severed from you.  Not by your weasel of a husband.  And not by my brother.”

“How?  How can we do this, Erik?  You would forsake your brother, your people? I wish to be rid of my husband’s torment and cruelty.  But to abandon my father and his dream for a united land…” Aetheflaed felt herself shrink inwards, pulling away from his warmth, only to feel the pull of his voice bring her back.

“We could be that dream, Aethelflaed.  You and me.  The heathen and the princess,” he chuckled mirthlessly, but continued on, “we could bring the people together.”

Aethelflaed scoffed, not unkindly, “it will not work, Erik.  The people are not ready.  Yours or mine.  The love of two people is not enough to still the generations of fear and hate and conquest.”

Erik wrapped his arms closer around her and pressed his forehead to hers.  For several moments, she settled her fears in his embrace.  The frustration and despair once more dissipating while he breathed him in.  If they were destined for their love to be torn apart, she wanted the memories of him to last her lifetime.  His scent, musky and dark with an air of honey.  His embrace, full of power holding her down to earth.  An anchor against a raging sea.  

“Then we will leave.  We will leave here and let these big men fight their battles.”

For the second time that night, his words caught her off guard.  “I will take you away and we will live on a little farm and have a simple life.” 

“I can not ask this of you.”

“You did not ask,” his response clipped her argument. “I have followed my brother here.  I have witnessed his obsession with gaining glory and position amongst our people grow while I linger beside him.  It does not stir the same passion in me.  I do not feel that my fate is pulled to be that warlord my brother envisions we will become.  You say that you were a frozen lake before finding me.  If that is true then I was a wave floating along in my brother's current.  Flowing along as he flowed.  But now I have found my own current.  Our flowing river has diverged into two and my wave has broken from its former course.  Found its own path. To you, Aethelflaed.”

Throughout his confession, tears welled in Erik’s eyes, threatening to fall.  He lifted his head to see Aethelflaed smile through tear soaked cheeks.

“Is this truly what you desire, Erik?”  Aethelflaed’s voice was strained as she fought against the emotions pouring from her heart. “You wish to leave all behind, for a simple life with me?”

“Yes, my love.  Though,” he paused, sniffing and trying to fight back his own tears, “in truth I don’t know how to spirit you away from here.  Not yet.  And you have not told me if you’re willing to come.  You did not ask me to make this choice.  And I will show you the same respect.  I would not ask you to forsake your father and your people, if it was not,” but his words were left unsaid.

Aethelflaed pulled his face to hers and kissed his lips pouring out the overwhelming love and anguish she could no longer contain.  The love she felt consumed her in that moment, pulling at her heart and tightening a coil in her stomach.

“You do not need to ask me, either.  I will leave with you.  I want a life away from here.  With you,”  she confessed her choice in a flurry of words, the world feeling as if it were spinning in reverse.  Erik rested his forehead against hers once more, gently wiping away her tears and peppering her face with kisses.

“I do not know how we will do this, my love.  But I will find a way.  We will find a way,” he promised, his voice thick with conviction and emotion.

They stood together, locked in embrace, silent tears continuing to fall.  Aethelflaed felt her breathing slow and the pain and overwhelming fear for their situation slowly release from her stomach.  Her shoulders relaxed and she breathed in, her head clearing from the rush of emotions.  And then it came to her.  The solution.

“Uhtred,” she breathed.  Tilting her head back to meet Erik’s questioning look, she continued, “Uhtred is our answer.  My father will send him to negotiate.  I know him.  He will help us.”

Aethelflaed waited as Erik stared at her face, saw her belief.  Her sincerity.  She watched as his face broke into a smile and he nodded, before he brought another kiss to her lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please let me know if you want to be added or removed from my taglist.

Rules:

1 - My main fandom is obvs The Last Kingdom, but if you'd like to write for Bridgerton, Peaky Blinders, Merlin, or Shadow and Bone, that's fine too.

2 - You may write anything you like, as long as it has appropriate warnings. If you don't write, you can make moodboards and edits, or even give headcanons a go.

3 - Send me an ask with the prompts you'd like to use from the lists below. One list has quotes, the other has AUs and tropes. You can choose as many prompts as you like. Once two people have chosen a quote I will cross it off the list and it will be unavailable, however there is no limit on the AUs and tropes.

4 - Please tag me in your wonderful creations and use #ems200.

5 - Please use 'read more' if it's long so it's easier to reblog.

6 - the 'deadline' will be 31st January 2022 when I will post a masterlist of entries.

Prompts:

Quotes:

“History obliterates, and in every picture it paints, it paints me and all my mistakes” – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton @maggiescarborough @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie

“Look into your eyes, and the sky’s the limit. I’m helpless. Down for the count, and I’m drowning in them” – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton.

“I knew you’d fight until the war was won, but you deserve a chance to meet your son. Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now ” – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton. @geekandbooknerd @fandomhopped

“And if you are gone tomorrow, what was ours will still be. I have something to believe in, now that I know you believed in me” – Jack Feldman, Newsies.

“I was alone. I was a frozen lake, but then you melted me awake” – Kevin Murphey & Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers the Musical. @solinarimoon

“I hope you miss me, wish you’d kiss me, then you’d know I worship you, I’ll trade my life for yours” – Kevin Murphey & Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers the Musical.

“You are a drug, you are a poison pill. I’ve got to kick the habit now or else I never will. I love the rush, when you hold me close, but you will not be satisfied until I overdose” – Kevin Murphey & Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers the Musical.

“Now she’s here shining in the starlight, now she’s here suddenly I know, if she’s here it’s crystal clear I’m where I’m meant to go” – Glenn Slater & Alan Menken, Tangled.

“So many things to tell her, but how to make her see. The truth about my past, impossible, she’d turn away from me” – Elton John, The Lion King. @magravenwrites

“My heart has wings and I can fly, I’ll touch every star in the sky. So this is the miracle that I’ve been dreaming of. So this is love” – Mack David, Jerry Livingston & Al Hoffman, Cinderella. @morosemagick

AUs/Tropes:

University/College AU

Soulmate AU

Harry Potter AU

Band AU

Time Travel AU

Pirate AU @flowers-in-your-hayr

Assassin/Mafia AU @flowers-in-your-hayr

Roommate AU

Cowboy AU

Coffee Shop AU @morosemagick

Arranged Marriage @geekandbooknerd

Only One Bed

Hurt/Comfort

Mutual Pining

Lake/River (for Lau😉)