fandoms 6-10
Fandom 6: Shining Force
Title: Requiem
Fandom: Shining Force
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Adam, Mae
Words: 327
Summary: Everyone has accepted the loss except Adam, who believes it is illogical to accept less than complete certainties.
Tags: spoilers, endgame, (possible) major character death, foreshadowing for Final Conflict, inspired by music
"We are holding a state funeral for someone we do not know for certain is deceased," pointed out Adam. Mae flinched at the sudden noise. She'd been wrapped up in the solemn atmosphere, in the almost hypnotically slow moving procession through the gates of Guardiana castle, like some kind of surreal nightmare that didn't even have the decency to be truly horrifying. The elegy played by the brass band was beautifully bittersweet. Everyone was together at last, she realised. Peace had been settled between two nations. The world wasn't going to be devoured by a demonic three-headed black dragon. To people who didn't know their leader, who knew him only as the hero who nobly sacrificed himself, this was mostly a day of relief.
"He was trapped in a sinking building that was also falling apart," she replied, "The emergency retreat magic hadn't even worked. You don't come back from that."
"Under normal circumstances, no, but nothing in that place followed the regular laws of nature," argued the ancient android.
"What are you asking us to do, then? We can't just scour the whole world looking for him. We're only mortals."
"I am not," he pointed out, "I do not tire, do not weaken, do not grow bored or become lost or experience fading morale. If I take a day to repair my tracking software, perhaps I can pick up his signature. It is useful that the Church keeps large amounts of useful information on people for their restoration rituals."
"Do you think we'll just find him walking out of a Church one day, looking dazed but otherwise fine? It's happened before, right?"
"It is a possibility and a logical place to look," he said, "I will try the Churches first. I am going to check this continent, then move to the next closest that he could have drifted to."
"Good luck. And if you do see him, I have a message for you to pass on…"
Fandom 7: Strawberry Vinegar
Title: Fables and Lies
Fandom: Strawberry Vinegar
Rating:PG-13/Femslash
Characters: Licia/Rie
Words: 326
Summary: Licia knows things a mortal wouldn't but she does sometiems lie out of her ass about them.
Tags: humour, religion, inspired by music
Sometimes the two of them would just lie down next to each other, stare at the ceiling and pester each other about what things from their respective worlds really exists and what doesn't. Half the time, Licia lied out of her ass about this. Lying was second nature to demons, apparently, when they weren't acting on the first urges that came into their head. They weren't even particularly good at it - you could predict the pattern once you knew them well enough. For instance, when she was talking about angels, she usually told the truth.
"Angels are basically the same as us," she would explain, "Except they have better press, so people call the concepts they stand for 'virtues' and ours 'vices', even though you need both of them to be a functioning human."
"A subject you're an expert in now, hm?" Rie teased.
"My big sister told me all about it," said Licia, "You need wrath to know not to stand for it when people wrong you. And greed to hoard things you need to survive. And lust to..."
"I get the picture."
"And the Angelic Virtues can be just as harmful. For instance, what if you're too temperate or humble and you refuse to have something you actually need?"
"You have a point, I guess," Rie smiled, thinking that her mother would probably say the same sort of thing. If Licia had suddenly admitted to her that Rie's mother was secretly a devil, the girl wouldn't be all that surprised - in the nicest possible way, of course.
"And then there's Valkyries," said Licia casually, "Someone's gotta get the souls of fallen warriors over to the Big Daddy for a good time..."
"Okay, now you're making it up," Rie informed her.
"I am not! They have those winged helmets and horses and everything!"
"You really are a terrible liar, just so you know."
"Well... well, I'm not a demon of lying, am I?"
Fandom 8: Dynamite Headdy/Strawberry Vinegar
Title: The Benevolent Puppetmaster
Fandom: Dynamite Headdy/Strawberry Vinegar
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Licia, Rie, OC
Words: 413
Summary: Licia senses something odd about the puppets.
Tags: crossover, mildly creepy
They sat on the marbled benches with a sweet pastry and a rich coffee, watching a street performer put on a puppet show. These were finely crafted wooden puppets, genuine antiques but restored by the look of their paintwork and style. Their dance was masterful, speaking of the skill of the puppeteers, who had been professionally trained somewhere and were taking this seriously.
Rie knew Licia's moods and knew that her attention had been grabbed by something else entirely.
"What's up?" she demanded, "This show only happens once a day."
"I know puppets are supposed to be creepy," whispered Licia, "But there's something genuinely off about that one. Its aura, I mean. Professionally speaking."
"The one with the detached head and arms, and the smiley face badge?"
She nodded, at which point an old man who had been sat next to their bench on a mechanised scooter, happily smoking a pipe and ignoring them, suddenly spoke up, "Ah, you're sensitive to the other side, yes? There are local rumours about that puppet, you know."
Licia rarely cared about people who were not Rie but was now watching the old man with rapt attention.
"It's got a life of its own," he continued, "And it gets angry if you interfere with it. It demands a skilled and morally good owner. If you harm it, if you take its badge off, if you threaten the others who came in with it... they used to belong to a popular theater. They decided to modernise, tried to get rid of or change the workings of all the puppets. That night, all the puppets went missing, though, and then there was a fire, spreading too fast for the building to be saved. They said it was an electrical fire but nobody can explain how the puppets disappeared. They resurface, sometimes, but it's hard to tell if they're genuine. There are a lot of counterfeits on the market, and the only way you know for certain is if bad things happen to someone who tries to damage one."
"But those ones are okay, right, because their owner takes good care of them?" she asked.
"If those are even the real thing, then, yes. But if you say there's something about them... I always had my own suspicions... well, well..." he took a puff of his pipe.
"Well, it was nice to see them. Thank you for the story, sir!" she smiled, then glowered at Rie, "We're out of cake."
Fandom 9: Fire Emblem Heroes/Undertale
Title: Santa Anna
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes/Undertale
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Anna, Sans
Words: 300
Summary: Two knowledgeable people with a lot of authority talk about accepting refugees in exchange for supplies.
Tags: crossover, spoilers
"So, are you all the same Anna or...?" the skeleton examined the scribe with a professional eye. She tried to appear as if she was ignoring him and focusing on what she was writing. When he peeked over his shoulder, she glared at him and closed the record book.
"No, you must be, the system would have picked up all of you otherwise. Unless the new one completely replaces the old one..."
"Wherever you're from," she snapped, "You're not meant to interact with this world. Its going to cause problems."
"But your world already has more problems than you can handle on your own," he mused, "They're being fixed now but everyone's having difficulty adjusting to such a sudden, drastic change to their soul. Is it their entire souls being replaced or are they having a transfusion of more Determination? I know where you can get a ready supply of that, you know."
"And what do you want in exchange?"
"Well, my master had asked me to bring back intelligence on how exactly you turn off the ability to return from death for an entire world of humans, but I know you well enough to know you would refuse, and personally I'm not sure it'll put us in the right direction, so to speak," the skeleton grinned, "But I also see that this world has very thin borders, very easy to fall into and is pretty huge. So that it would be easy to transport a group of refugees there without anyone knowing."
"Why, what're you fleeing from? What's likely to follow you?"
The skeleton frowned, "I'll deal with that, okay? I... think its bound to the world we're in. So I don't think it can follow us."
"Come back to me when you're sure of that. Then we'll talk."
Fandom 10: Dark Souls/NiER
Title: Absolution
Fandom: Dark Souls/NiER
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: NiER
Words: 256
Summary: Another world gives NiER a second chance for absolution but its not going well.
Tags: spoilers, post-NiER, crossover, major character deaths, dark and depressing
It was simple, in theory. There were a lot of empty vessels that had lost forever what was supposed to fill them. On the other side, there were a lot of formless souls that no longer had earthly vessels. In their own world there wasn't enough of either to balance out the equation any more. However, this new world had the same problem and between them they'd be able to work out something. In theory. He was having his doubts once he saw what a mess the other world was in. Hell, it made their own world look friendly and bright and upbeat. What struck him most was how eerily quiet the other world was. Most of the music back home had come from Devola and Popola - would things start to get this bad now that the twins weren't here any more? Another slight problem - in this world it was the empty vessels that attacked you, not the disembodied souls. So, he'd be trying to cram something that was trying to kill him into something else that was trying to kill him while holding both of them down for long enough. He wished he'd been able to take Kaine and Emil with him. No, this was his last chance at redemption, there wasn't anyone else he could rope into it. Not that anyone was left... His somber thoughts trailed away when something huge that smelled of the grave lurched out at him from behind a tree. He swung his greatsword around, cursing the loss of one more vessel.
Title: Requiem
Fandom: Shining Force
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Adam, Mae
Words: 327
Summary: Everyone has accepted the loss except Adam, who believes it is illogical to accept less than complete certainties.
Tags: spoilers, endgame, (possible) major character death, foreshadowing for Final Conflict, inspired by music
"We are holding a state funeral for someone we do not know for certain is deceased," pointed out Adam. Mae flinched at the sudden noise. She'd been wrapped up in the solemn atmosphere, in the almost hypnotically slow moving procession through the gates of Guardiana castle, like some kind of surreal nightmare that didn't even have the decency to be truly horrifying. The elegy played by the brass band was beautifully bittersweet. Everyone was together at last, she realised. Peace had been settled between two nations. The world wasn't going to be devoured by a demonic three-headed black dragon. To people who didn't know their leader, who knew him only as the hero who nobly sacrificed himself, this was mostly a day of relief.
"He was trapped in a sinking building that was also falling apart," she replied, "The emergency retreat magic hadn't even worked. You don't come back from that."
"Under normal circumstances, no, but nothing in that place followed the regular laws of nature," argued the ancient android.
"What are you asking us to do, then? We can't just scour the whole world looking for him. We're only mortals."
"I am not," he pointed out, "I do not tire, do not weaken, do not grow bored or become lost or experience fading morale. If I take a day to repair my tracking software, perhaps I can pick up his signature. It is useful that the Church keeps large amounts of useful information on people for their restoration rituals."
"Do you think we'll just find him walking out of a Church one day, looking dazed but otherwise fine? It's happened before, right?"
"It is a possibility and a logical place to look," he said, "I will try the Churches first. I am going to check this continent, then move to the next closest that he could have drifted to."
"Good luck. And if you do see him, I have a message for you to pass on…"
Fandom 7: Strawberry Vinegar
Title: Fables and Lies
Fandom: Strawberry Vinegar
Rating:PG-13/Femslash
Characters: Licia/Rie
Words: 326
Summary: Licia knows things a mortal wouldn't but she does sometiems lie out of her ass about them.
Tags: humour, religion, inspired by music
Sometimes the two of them would just lie down next to each other, stare at the ceiling and pester each other about what things from their respective worlds really exists and what doesn't. Half the time, Licia lied out of her ass about this. Lying was second nature to demons, apparently, when they weren't acting on the first urges that came into their head. They weren't even particularly good at it - you could predict the pattern once you knew them well enough. For instance, when she was talking about angels, she usually told the truth.
"Angels are basically the same as us," she would explain, "Except they have better press, so people call the concepts they stand for 'virtues' and ours 'vices', even though you need both of them to be a functioning human."
"A subject you're an expert in now, hm?" Rie teased.
"My big sister told me all about it," said Licia, "You need wrath to know not to stand for it when people wrong you. And greed to hoard things you need to survive. And lust to..."
"I get the picture."
"And the Angelic Virtues can be just as harmful. For instance, what if you're too temperate or humble and you refuse to have something you actually need?"
"You have a point, I guess," Rie smiled, thinking that her mother would probably say the same sort of thing. If Licia had suddenly admitted to her that Rie's mother was secretly a devil, the girl wouldn't be all that surprised - in the nicest possible way, of course.
"And then there's Valkyries," said Licia casually, "Someone's gotta get the souls of fallen warriors over to the Big Daddy for a good time..."
"Okay, now you're making it up," Rie informed her.
"I am not! They have those winged helmets and horses and everything!"
"You really are a terrible liar, just so you know."
"Well... well, I'm not a demon of lying, am I?"
Fandom 8: Dynamite Headdy/Strawberry Vinegar
Title: The Benevolent Puppetmaster
Fandom: Dynamite Headdy/Strawberry Vinegar
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Licia, Rie, OC
Words: 413
Summary: Licia senses something odd about the puppets.
Tags: crossover, mildly creepy
They sat on the marbled benches with a sweet pastry and a rich coffee, watching a street performer put on a puppet show. These were finely crafted wooden puppets, genuine antiques but restored by the look of their paintwork and style. Their dance was masterful, speaking of the skill of the puppeteers, who had been professionally trained somewhere and were taking this seriously.
Rie knew Licia's moods and knew that her attention had been grabbed by something else entirely.
"What's up?" she demanded, "This show only happens once a day."
"I know puppets are supposed to be creepy," whispered Licia, "But there's something genuinely off about that one. Its aura, I mean. Professionally speaking."
"The one with the detached head and arms, and the smiley face badge?"
She nodded, at which point an old man who had been sat next to their bench on a mechanised scooter, happily smoking a pipe and ignoring them, suddenly spoke up, "Ah, you're sensitive to the other side, yes? There are local rumours about that puppet, you know."
Licia rarely cared about people who were not Rie but was now watching the old man with rapt attention.
"It's got a life of its own," he continued, "And it gets angry if you interfere with it. It demands a skilled and morally good owner. If you harm it, if you take its badge off, if you threaten the others who came in with it... they used to belong to a popular theater. They decided to modernise, tried to get rid of or change the workings of all the puppets. That night, all the puppets went missing, though, and then there was a fire, spreading too fast for the building to be saved. They said it was an electrical fire but nobody can explain how the puppets disappeared. They resurface, sometimes, but it's hard to tell if they're genuine. There are a lot of counterfeits on the market, and the only way you know for certain is if bad things happen to someone who tries to damage one."
"But those ones are okay, right, because their owner takes good care of them?" she asked.
"If those are even the real thing, then, yes. But if you say there's something about them... I always had my own suspicions... well, well..." he took a puff of his pipe.
"Well, it was nice to see them. Thank you for the story, sir!" she smiled, then glowered at Rie, "We're out of cake."
Fandom 9: Fire Emblem Heroes/Undertale
Title: Santa Anna
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes/Undertale
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: Anna, Sans
Words: 300
Summary: Two knowledgeable people with a lot of authority talk about accepting refugees in exchange for supplies.
Tags: crossover, spoilers
"So, are you all the same Anna or...?" the skeleton examined the scribe with a professional eye. She tried to appear as if she was ignoring him and focusing on what she was writing. When he peeked over his shoulder, she glared at him and closed the record book.
"No, you must be, the system would have picked up all of you otherwise. Unless the new one completely replaces the old one..."
"Wherever you're from," she snapped, "You're not meant to interact with this world. Its going to cause problems."
"But your world already has more problems than you can handle on your own," he mused, "They're being fixed now but everyone's having difficulty adjusting to such a sudden, drastic change to their soul. Is it their entire souls being replaced or are they having a transfusion of more Determination? I know where you can get a ready supply of that, you know."
"And what do you want in exchange?"
"Well, my master had asked me to bring back intelligence on how exactly you turn off the ability to return from death for an entire world of humans, but I know you well enough to know you would refuse, and personally I'm not sure it'll put us in the right direction, so to speak," the skeleton grinned, "But I also see that this world has very thin borders, very easy to fall into and is pretty huge. So that it would be easy to transport a group of refugees there without anyone knowing."
"Why, what're you fleeing from? What's likely to follow you?"
The skeleton frowned, "I'll deal with that, okay? I... think its bound to the world we're in. So I don't think it can follow us."
"Come back to me when you're sure of that. Then we'll talk."
Fandom 10: Dark Souls/NiER
Title: Absolution
Fandom: Dark Souls/NiER
Rating: PG-13/Gen
Characters: NiER
Words: 256
Summary: Another world gives NiER a second chance for absolution but its not going well.
Tags: spoilers, post-NiER, crossover, major character deaths, dark and depressing
It was simple, in theory. There were a lot of empty vessels that had lost forever what was supposed to fill them. On the other side, there were a lot of formless souls that no longer had earthly vessels. In their own world there wasn't enough of either to balance out the equation any more. However, this new world had the same problem and between them they'd be able to work out something. In theory. He was having his doubts once he saw what a mess the other world was in. Hell, it made their own world look friendly and bright and upbeat. What struck him most was how eerily quiet the other world was. Most of the music back home had come from Devola and Popola - would things start to get this bad now that the twins weren't here any more? Another slight problem - in this world it was the empty vessels that attacked you, not the disembodied souls. So, he'd be trying to cram something that was trying to kill him into something else that was trying to kill him while holding both of them down for long enough. He wished he'd been able to take Kaine and Emil with him. No, this was his last chance at redemption, there wasn't anyone else he could rope into it. Not that anyone was left... His somber thoughts trailed away when something huge that smelled of the grave lurched out at him from behind a tree. He swung his greatsword around, cursing the loss of one more vessel.