Fic: The Rest of Part One (15 Annuals Epilogue)
Yeah, that's right. It's some Tin Man fanfic again. Well, kind of. I vote 15!verse counts as Tin Man. Ninjas are just an added bonus!
The Six SEVENNNN names of Glitch:
Glitch - Good ol' loveable Glitch. Given to him by wee little DG on first meeting.
Tomo - Glitch's birthname.
Ambrose - Good ol' logical Ambrose. Self-named.
Sessha - Unworthy One. Named by Kage after his disgraceful return to them, with a BABY.
Spiral - badass ninja incarnate (male version, as he is not quite Hana). Named by Kage; fighting technique.
Mr. Joat - Uncle/Caretaker/Daddy!Glitch. Named by DG, adopted for practical uses, and then...twisted.
Sweetheart - good god, how OTP can a fic get? Named by Cain completely accidentally.
Glitch and Cain were married using a blah blah blah, a Kage marriage device that scares the crap out of the ninjas since you are helplessly bound to the same person for all eternity; no matter how many times you're reincarnated, you'll be stuck with them, forever.
DG = Hime. As Azkadellia ran off to be a giddy lesbian with Airofday and play fairy godmother for the rest of her existence, the throne falls to DG. Her daughter's real name is never shown because I have no fucking clue what it is. I'm tempted to say ML or something.
Hananoshi no Kage = Hana's full name. "no shi" was added on after killing her brother during her Trial, a ninja/Kage right of passage. Hana is Glitch/Tomo/Sessha/Spiral/Ambrose/Joat/Sweetheart's badass ninja mommy.
Title: The Rest Of Part One (15 Annuals Epilogue)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst, everything dies, angst, babies, angst, reincarnation, angst death angst.
Summary: How It All Ends. OR DOES IT...?
01
A long time ago, the question of whether Glitch would save DG or Cain in a life-threatening crisis came up. It was an idle conversation, Ambrose and Jeb’s words meandering across each other over the hearty crackle of the hearth. Jeb had asked, and he’d told him. As much as he loves Cain, the answer to everything will always be Hime.
02
Spiral is technically a virgin until Tomo turns forty. Cain gripes about being sore all the way to his own birthday.
03
When he thinks of himself, he’s defined by what he is to others, not the names or attributes he switches between. While some think he’s insane and needs help, he thinks they’re all fools for not realizing they do the exact same thing, only on a lesser scale.
04
Ambrose spends the morning of DG’s royal wedding day getting thrown against trees and slammed into mud, and doing his best to keep her hair out of the muck. They spar until DG has nothing but her magic left, and then Tomo has her running drills with that too. They’re drills she’s been doing since she was eight years old, and he watches every nerve in her body relax into the same rhythm - push, pull, push, pull - until he has to drag her away and give up something he never really had anyway.
05
Tomo leaves the castle the day he learns DG’s pregnant and never sleeps inside it again. It’s one of the reasons he starts training children. He tells Cain it’s because he won’t always be there to protect Hime, which is true. He’s already gone.
06
The day Hananoshi no Kage dies, her not-quite-granddaughter that she never called anything other than Yuki receives a golden flower made of painted iron. Tomo places it in the toddler’s hair, watches her beam at him, and tells Yuki that her grandma would be very proud her granddaughter’s so pretty.
07
The day Wyatt Cain dies, Spiral makes sure all two hundred and thirty six men he’d been leading don’t follow his example. The day after, Sweetheart nearly does.
08
An old man named Mr. Joat can be found in woods and valleys and meadows deep in the O.Z., quiet but always happy to have a conversation with those who stop by. When his people offer to give him another title, he tells them he has enough of them already. It doesn’t stop them from calling him a hero.
09
Ambrose’s grave is an elaborate marble affair in the center of Central City, a statue of him placed near both the Northern Island and Finaqua. The Queen calls him her father, brother, uncle and best friend.
Sessha earns no grave, merely a quiet acceptance from the Kage when they hear the news.
Tomo receives another slash of ink against a scroll, another chip in a rock, and the right to have his name bestowed on another - since it’d served its previous bearer well, they could only hope the next Tomo could find as much glory.
Spiral’s name lives on in horror stories and heroic legends, in the two knives a woman named Hime hurls into the center of an overhanging cliff in the Valley, glaring a challenge at those watching, daring them to even try and compare.
Mr. Joat has a school that lives on long after his death, long after even the name Mr. Joat. It takes people in, teaches them, trains them, saves them. Occasionally people wonder why the battlemaster is always referred to as Hana, male or female, and occasionally they’ll ask themselves why it’s always the Joat School, since it’s a nonsense word. But it will live on, and on, and on.
Glitch is where his body rests, in the end, planted on a hill and sleeping next to Wyatt Cain. When Yuki, fourteen and still coming to grips with the way she had to straddle the worlds of both shadow and light, asked why neither of them had coffins, her mother had looked up, shrugged, and grinned. “Not like they need them anymore. They’re coming right back together, after all, just maybe not like this.”
Sweetheart doesn’t die. Sweetheart groans as his little sister swats him awake, calling him Jason and demanding he get downstairs and make her some tea. When Jason groans and does as she asks - just like he always does - they run out of tea. When Jason tromps through the snow all the way to the store, slams the door open and straight into the face of someone who isn’t quite Wyatt Cain anymore, Sweetheart is most definitely alive.
10
The Six SEVENNNN names of Glitch:
Glitch - Good ol' loveable Glitch. Given to him by wee little DG on first meeting.
Tomo - Glitch's birthname.
Ambrose - Good ol' logical Ambrose. Self-named.
Sessha - Unworthy One. Named by Kage after his disgraceful return to them, with a BABY.
Spiral - badass ninja incarnate (male version, as he is not quite Hana). Named by Kage; fighting technique.
Mr. Joat - Uncle/Caretaker/Daddy!Glitch. Named by DG, adopted for practical uses, and then...twisted.
Sweetheart - good god, how OTP can a fic get? Named by Cain completely accidentally.
Glitch and Cain were married using a blah blah blah, a Kage marriage device that scares the crap out of the ninjas since you are helplessly bound to the same person for all eternity; no matter how many times you're reincarnated, you'll be stuck with them, forever.
DG = Hime. As Azkadellia ran off to be a giddy lesbian with Airofday and play fairy godmother for the rest of her existence, the throne falls to DG. Her daughter's real name is never shown because I have no fucking clue what it is. I'm tempted to say ML or something.
Hananoshi no Kage = Hana's full name. "no shi" was added on after killing her brother during her Trial, a ninja/Kage right of passage. Hana is Glitch/Tomo/Sessha/Spiral/Ambrose/Joat/Sweetheart's badass ninja mommy.
Title: The Rest Of Part One (15 Annuals Epilogue)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst, everything dies, angst, babies, angst, reincarnation, angst death angst.
Summary: How It All Ends. OR DOES IT...?
01
A long time ago, the question of whether Glitch would save DG or Cain in a life-threatening crisis came up. It was an idle conversation, Ambrose and Jeb’s words meandering across each other over the hearty crackle of the hearth. Jeb had asked, and he’d told him. As much as he loves Cain, the answer to everything will always be Hime.
02
Spiral is technically a virgin until Tomo turns forty. Cain gripes about being sore all the way to his own birthday.
03
When he thinks of himself, he’s defined by what he is to others, not the names or attributes he switches between. While some think he’s insane and needs help, he thinks they’re all fools for not realizing they do the exact same thing, only on a lesser scale.
04
Ambrose spends the morning of DG’s royal wedding day getting thrown against trees and slammed into mud, and doing his best to keep her hair out of the muck. They spar until DG has nothing but her magic left, and then Tomo has her running drills with that too. They’re drills she’s been doing since she was eight years old, and he watches every nerve in her body relax into the same rhythm - push, pull, push, pull - until he has to drag her away and give up something he never really had anyway.
05
Tomo leaves the castle the day he learns DG’s pregnant and never sleeps inside it again. It’s one of the reasons he starts training children. He tells Cain it’s because he won’t always be there to protect Hime, which is true. He’s already gone.
06
The day Hananoshi no Kage dies, her not-quite-granddaughter that she never called anything other than Yuki receives a golden flower made of painted iron. Tomo places it in the toddler’s hair, watches her beam at him, and tells Yuki that her grandma would be very proud her granddaughter’s so pretty.
07
The day Wyatt Cain dies, Spiral makes sure all two hundred and thirty six men he’d been leading don’t follow his example. The day after, Sweetheart nearly does.
08
An old man named Mr. Joat can be found in woods and valleys and meadows deep in the O.Z., quiet but always happy to have a conversation with those who stop by. When his people offer to give him another title, he tells them he has enough of them already. It doesn’t stop them from calling him a hero.
09
Ambrose’s grave is an elaborate marble affair in the center of Central City, a statue of him placed near both the Northern Island and Finaqua. The Queen calls him her father, brother, uncle and best friend.
Sessha earns no grave, merely a quiet acceptance from the Kage when they hear the news.
Tomo receives another slash of ink against a scroll, another chip in a rock, and the right to have his name bestowed on another - since it’d served its previous bearer well, they could only hope the next Tomo could find as much glory.
Spiral’s name lives on in horror stories and heroic legends, in the two knives a woman named Hime hurls into the center of an overhanging cliff in the Valley, glaring a challenge at those watching, daring them to even try and compare.
Mr. Joat has a school that lives on long after his death, long after even the name Mr. Joat. It takes people in, teaches them, trains them, saves them. Occasionally people wonder why the battlemaster is always referred to as Hana, male or female, and occasionally they’ll ask themselves why it’s always the Joat School, since it’s a nonsense word. But it will live on, and on, and on.
Glitch is where his body rests, in the end, planted on a hill and sleeping next to Wyatt Cain. When Yuki, fourteen and still coming to grips with the way she had to straddle the worlds of both shadow and light, asked why neither of them had coffins, her mother had looked up, shrugged, and grinned. “Not like they need them anymore. They’re coming right back together, after all, just maybe not like this.”
Sweetheart doesn’t die. Sweetheart groans as his little sister swats him awake, calling him Jason and demanding he get downstairs and make her some tea. When Jason groans and does as she asks - just like he always does - they run out of tea. When Jason tromps through the snow all the way to the store, slams the door open and straight into the face of someone who isn’t quite Wyatt Cain anymore, Sweetheart is most definitely alive.
10