#on my quest to find a Mother midi

[numinousmysteries]

Dancing the Tandava (9/10)

[on Ao3] @today-in-fic

Princeton, New Jersey 1993

On the drive up to Princeton, Scully listens to Mulder and William discuss classic science-fiction movies and their 21st century reboots. She wishes she could share their easy connection but her shock and disbelief intervenes. It feels unfair that William has this intimate knowledge of her as a mother but she knows so little about him. He is the product of her body and years of her nurturing and yet she feels a gap separating herself from him that she can’t quite bridge.

William is intelligent, kind, and curious. He’s soft-spoken and patient, but confident with a sense of humor. He’s exactly the type of young man she’d be proud to have as a son thirty years from now. The DNA test she ordered and reviewed herself proves William is her son and Mulder is his father, which means that at some point in the future, she and Mulder get together. And, since it seems like they’ve been parenting William as a couple, they manage to stay together. It’s a possibility that intrigues and terrifies her.

On the highway, she closes her eyes and tries to imagine Mulder as her husband and William as their grown son. As William describes the expanded universe of Star Wars prequels and sequels to Mulder who peppers him with questions, she can see the three of them naturally easing into these roles. But she and Mulder have never even kissed, let alone done anything that would result in the conception of a child. As much as she finds herself drawn to Mulder, she can’t imagine this single-minded man leaving his quest behind to live a quiet, domestic life.

“Scully, can you believe this?” Mulder asks, calling her back into her body. “George Lucas bastardized the entire metaphysical beauty of the Force with these, what are they called, William?”

“Midi-chlorians,” Williams says from the backseat.

“Midi-chlorians,” Mulder says, shaking his head dismissively. “You sure you want to go back to the future? It sounds pretty grim.”

“It has its ups and downs,” William says. “There’s someone I want to see.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mulder asks, flashing William a grin in the rearview mirror.

“My friend, Hannah. I mentioned her,” William says shyly. “I just miss her I guess.”

Scully peeks in the mirror and sees a blush spreading across William’s cheeks. He may have Mulder’s nose and lanky frame, but with her light coloring he can’t hide his embarrassment any better than she can. She turns to smile at Mulder and finds he’s already giving her a toothy grin. He’s proud of his son, she thinks, and she’s starting to feel pride bubble up within herself.

***

A flash of their badges grants Mulder and Scully access to the building that houses Princeton’s physics department. Scully catches William smiling, clearly impressed by how willingly the building’s security guard yields to his parents’ authority.

As soon as the elevator opens to the floor of Bellona’s office, they hear a man and woman arguing. Mulder raises a hand to hold Scully and William back from stepping forward so they can listen without being noticed.

“This is insane, Samita,” the man shouts. “Why would you want to give up the research you’re passionate about to work for the government on something so secretive they can’t even tell you what it is?”

“That’s exactly why I need to do it,” the woman responds. “This is the cutting edge of quantum research. What I learn on this project could revolutionize the entire field. It could be detecting dark matter, or even finding ways to utilize it. We’re making such small steps now, imagine if we could take a giant leap forward—what we could possibly learn if we had unlimited resources.”

“Resources from the military-industrial complex! You came here to unlock the mysteries of the universe, the origins of why we’re all here. And now you want to leave to work on what’s most likely a weapon that could kill millions?”

Their argument continues but their voices are lower now and Scully can’t hear what they’re saying. She looks to Mulder but he’s just as focused on trying to make out what Bellona and his wife are discussing. Scully wonders what line of questioning they’ll actually take once they get to Bellona. Knowing Mulder, he’ll probably come straight out and ask if he has plans to craft a time machine thirty years from now.

“I’m not going to let you hold me back,” Shah cries out. Her shout is followed by the sound of a door slamming.

Ballona huffs and heads toward them in the hallway. He’s a slight man with dark hair and glasses. As he makes his way to them, Mulder whispers to William, “Is that him?” and William nods.

“Dr. Bellona?” Scully says. “We’re Special Agents Scully and Mulder with the FBI and we have some questions for you.”

“Samita,” Bellona calls back. “Your friends the feds are here!”

With an exasperated sigh, Shah reopens her office door and comes to meet them in the hallway.

“Dr. Samita Shah,” she says, reaching out her hand to Scully. “How can I help you?”

“You don’t know them?” Bellona asks incredulously. “I assumed these were some of your government pals.”

Shah glares at him with ice in her deep brown eyes.

“Are you working on a government project?” Mulder asks.

“I’m considering it,” Shah says guardedly. “I was offered a contract by the department of defense. Are you here on their behalf?”

“No, Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “We’re actually here to speak with your husband.”

“Well, this will be a quick conversation,” Bellona snaps. “No, I’m not interested in collaborating with you.”

“Dr. Shah, do you know the nature of the project you’ve been asked to assist on?” Mulder asks. “Or where you’d be stationed?”

“I haven’t been fully briefed yet, no,” she says. “But I’d be working at Camp Hero on Long Island. It’s an older military base that’s being recommissioned for this project.”

Scully freezes and locks eyes with Mulder. She can see William looking at her wide-eyed in her peripheral vision.

“We need to visit that base,” Mulder says. “Would you be able to get access?”

Shah squints. “I believe I could. Let me make a call.”

She turns around and walks back to her office, leaving Mulder, Scully, and William with Bellona in the hall.

“Dr. Bellona, are you familiar with the Hindu god Shiva?” William asks. Scully looks at him nervously, unsure where he’s going with this.

“You’re better off asking Samita than me. Her family is Hindu,” he says. “But I’m familiar with the broad strokes. Lord Shiva is one of the religion’s three primary deities. He’s known as The Destroyer, but he’s associated with creation as well. You’ll often see him depicted dancing the tandava, a brisk choreography that has the power to create or destroy the universe.”

“I’m sorry,” he pauses. “Who are you? And what does this have to do with me and Samita?”

“Um, my name is William,” he says. “I’m…assisting on this case.” Bellona gives Mulder and Scully a questioning look but they don’t dispute William’s claim, so he goes on. “Is there any connection you can think of between Shiva and your research? Or with the project Dr. Shah is working on?”

“No, not really,” Bellona says. After a pause, he adds, “Well, in a very abstract sense, the tandava mirrors the dynamic movement of particles in quantum mechanics. Heisenberg even said quantum physics will make more sense to those who’ve read the Vedic texts. But, in practice, no, there’s no link.”

“What about if you were working on a particle accelerator? Would it be relevant then?” William continues.

“I suppose you could make the leap to connecting an accelerator’s capability to recreate the original conditions of the universe’s formation to Shiva’s role in the cyclic creation, destruction, and re-creation of the universe, but it’s quite the leap. And even the world’s largest particle accelerators haven’t even been able to confirm, yet alone re-create, the existence of subatomic particles such as the Higgs boson that are essential to that theory. Besides, it would take a real megalomaniac—or someone with nothing to lose—to want that kind of power for himself.”

Someone with nothing to lose. The words echo in Scully’s mind. “Dr. Bellona, could you give my colleagues and I a moment?” she asks.

“Sure,” he says. “I’ll go check on Samita.”

Once the three of them are alone in the hallway, Mulder turns to Scully and asks what’s on her mind.

“William, you mentioned in the car that Bellona and Shah aren’t still married in 2023, right?” she asks.

William nods.

“And have you heard of a Dr. Samita Shah working in the field? She already has an impressive resume and it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t be leading a world-class quantum mechanics lab thirty years from now.”

“No, I’ve never heard of her. And I do follow this stuff pretty closely,” he says.

“Then I wonder if something happened to her at some point, something terrible that led Bellona to become the very type of megalomaniac he’s describing. With the advantage of an additional thirty years of advancements in the field of quantum physics plus a far more powerful particle accelerator, he could be dangerous.”

Mulder and William both stare at her and she can see them processing her theory.

“So you think Bellona, in 2023, either sees himself as a modern-day Shiva or is trying to harness Shiva’s energy to destroy the world?” Mulder asks tentatively. She realizes it’s typically the type of theory he would posit but the pieces are starting to fall into place. Besides, the results of the DNA test can’t be denied.

“I do,” she replies. “And I think our best hope for stopping him is making sure nothing happens to Dr. Shah.”

“How can we do that?” Mulder asks. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “It might have to do with William, or Camp Hero. There must be a reason he appeared when and where he did.”

“I think we all need to make a trip to Camp Hero,” Mulder suggests. Scully and William nod in agreement.

They hear a door open and Shah and Bellona return from the office.

“Okay,” Shah says. “I spoke to my contact at Camp Hero and I can go up and meet with them today. I didn’t ask about bringing any visitors, but I can try to get you in.”

Mulder, Scully, and William follow Shah and Bellona downstairs. “Follow us,” Shah says before they separate and head to their cars.

Scully trails behind Mulder and William, watching them walk in step. Nearly equal in height, their strides match and their mannerisms are almost perfectly mirrored. The doubts she had about William’s origin are evaporating, even if she didn’t have concrete DNA evidence to prove his parentage. She’s desperate to know what changes in her life over the next thirty years lead her to becoming the mother of this bright young man—and Mulder’s partner in more ways than one. Learning that information, though, she knows, won’t replace the experience of living through it all. Her only hope of getting to see firsthand what the future holds is to ensure William’s safe passage back to his version of 2023, even if it means having to say goodbye to him now.

***

As Shah’s guests, Mulder, Scully, and William get a much warmer reception at Camp Hero than they did on their first visit. As they drive through the gate behind Shah and Bellona’s car, Mulder smirks at the guard in his post. Scully smiles but keeps her eyes focused in her lap in embarrassment.

They follow Bellona and Shah to a squat, square building next to a taller one that’s capped by the radar dish. The walls of both buildings are tagged with bubbly graffiti letters and it appears as if the site hasn’t been active in years. Except for a few military vehicles, the parking lot is abandoned. Weeds poke through gaps in the pavement.

A uniformed man in his 50s greets them at the door. He’s stocky and solid, built like a refrigerator, with a thick, but neatly trimmed mustache.

“Dr. Shah, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says. “I’m General Jenkins, we spoke on the phone. You’ll have to excuse the desolate atmosphere around here. We’re just starting to get the base up and operational again, but we should have everything you need to begin your work.”

They follow Jenkins through a concrete hallway with a lingering mildew smell. Switch boxes and rusted-over equipment line the walls. Jenkins leads them to an unmarked door that he opens by keying in a four-digit code. Inside are rows of workstations with computers, but no people.

Jenkins guides Bellona and Shah to one of the desktop computers, booting it up to demonstrate something to them while Mulder, Scully, and William survey the scene.

“That’s the door I came through,” William says, pointing to a thick, metal door with a round vault closure at the other end of the room. “There’s a tunnel behind there.”

“The Phoenix III tunnel,” Mulder says. “That must be the entrance to the wormhole.”

Mulder and William glance at Scully, waiting for her to debunk the theory. In light of everything she’s seen, though, and as much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Mulder’s explanation makes more sense than anything else she can think of.

“Any idea how we can reopen the wormhole?” William asks.

“There must be a localized disruption in spacetime,” Scully thinks aloud, trying to reconcile her understanding of the laws of physics with William’s unbelievable appearance. “Two, actually. One here caused by whatever military technology—”

“Extraterrestrial technology,” Mulder interjects.

“—whatever technology they’re using, and one at CERN in 2023 that Dr. Bellona created with the large hadron collider. If they’re both activated at the same time, the wormhole will open and William, or whoever is in the tunnel at that time, will be able to travel between the two locations.”

“Bellona is going to try it again,” William says. “I just remembered he said he was doing a ‘test run,’ so it must have been for another experiment, possibly even a more powerful one.”

“Then we have to get them to activate the time tunnel here,” Mulder adds.

“But how?” William asks.

“Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “They want her to work on this project. She can ask them to demonstrate the technology before she commits.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Mulder says.

They agree it’d be best for Scully, as a scientist, to appeal to Shah and ask if she’ll go along with the plan. She takes a deep breath, then goes to pull Shah away from Bellona and Jenkins. Without explaining her time travel theory—she doesn’t want the other woman to think she’s insane—she manages to convince Shah to request a demonstration from Jenkins.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting to see,” Jenkins says after listening to Shah’s request. “I’ve seen the technicians run the experiment a few times and it just looks like gibberish on a computer screen to me. Of course, we can’t declassify any sensitive information until you’ve signed the necessary paperwork, but if you want to watch a technician press a few buttons on the computer, be my guest. Let me get our technician.”

Jenkins leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a tall, thin man with a goatee. The man nods at William, who gives him a look of recognition in return.

“You know him?” Scully asks.

“He was here the night I turned up,” he says quietly to her.

“How can I help?” The man asks.

“Whatever experiment you were running the night William appeared, I need you to recreate those exact conditions and repeat the coordinates,” Scully instructs him.

“I just push the buttons,” the goateed man says, resigned, and takes up position at one of the desktop computers.

“And I’ll go in the tunnel,” William says.

“No one goes in there,” Jenkins barks.

“Sir, with all due respect,” the technician says. “I think it’d be in our best interest if he does go. He’s the one I told you about who turned up here the other night? If your concern is maintaining the secrecy of the project, I don’t think you’d want him hanging around.”

Jenkins nods. Scully thinks that it ultimately doesn't matter whether the technician truly cares about William’s return or only in hiding any evidence of time travel. Either way, their only chance of getting William back where he belongs is getting him in that tunnel.

William heads toward the vault door and Scully instinctively walks beside him. Even if she can’t understand or explain how he came to be, she’s suddenly acutely aware that she doesn’t want to lose her son. She feels the need to hold him in her arms and protect him.

When they’re directly in front of the door William turns to her and says, “You have to convince Shah not to work on this project. She has to stay at Princeton or else something will happen to her and it’ll send Bellona down the path to destroy the world in 2023.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she says.

“Yes, you can, mom,” he insists, taking her hands in his. “Explain to her that she isn’t going to find any answers here. These researchers only want to use her for her abilities and then they’ll dispose of her to keep their work secret. You and dad told me you’ve seen things like this over the years. Shadow government projects with no respect for human life. I have a feeling that’s what’s going on here. She’ll listen to you.”

“I’ll try,” she says, squeezing his hands. Even though his eyes are as blue as her own, she sees so much of Mulder in his gaze—his desire to believe, even in her, and the trust he puts in her.

William lets go of her hands. He twists the vault door open and peers into the darkness.

“Wait,” Scully hears herself say the word before she thinks it.

She feels both William and Mulder’s eyes on her now. Mulder crosses the room to stand beside them.

“What if something goes wrong and you end up not returning to 2023…or never existing at all?” She steps closer to William and grabs onto his hands again. “I don’t want to risk losing you.”

“Mom,” William's voice catches in his throat. “It’s going to work. You figured everything out yourself. I need to get back. I’ll see you…in the future.”

She takes him into her arms and hugs him tight, closing her eyes to allow the smell and feel of him to surround her. Her son is brave and loyal like his father. For the first time since she saw him, she senses a deep bond between them that transcends time and logic. It’s an instinctual love like she’s never felt before. Like a birth she has no recollection of, she feels a physical pain as their bodies separate and she releases him from her hold.

She watches as Mulder hugs him next, knowing the link between them is just as strong. “You’ve got this, buddy,” Mulder says to his son, tapping him on the back before letting him go.

“We’ll see him again one day,” Mulder whispers to Scully, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. His weight feels warm and safe against hers, and she eases into him.

“I can’t wait,” Scully murmurs. Despite her fears, she smiles. Tears stream down her face as William disappears down the tunnel.

#xfiles #txf #xf fanfic #msr #xfiles fanfic #x files #the x files

[depomera]

Anyways, kinda dumb but I’m making a SW AU that takes place a few years before the Clone Wars. I’m doing the dirty and making everyone meet and being allies and such. This is just filling in gaps. One of my weaknesses in projecting is I really like fantasy role playing stuff and I’m trying to incorporate things like that into the SW universe but also keeping to lore as best I can. This AU is more of a slice of life/shoujo/shounen/fantasy adventure campaign.

***

• Grievous and Jango work for the IBC (intergalactic banking clan) to pay off their debt. They do things from rescue missions to bounties, escorts, and dealing with their own slice of life. (The “debt duo”).

• Jango is an esteemed bounty hunter but paying off debts of Mandalore owed to the IBC. He is aloof but a caring man. He has a soft spot for children and hopes to become a father one day.

• Grievous is a renowned warlord but is paying off his planet’s debts to the IBC as well as looking for his long lost mate, Ronderu who mysteriously vanished during a Huk invasion.

•Darth Plagueis is now Sith Lord after being given the title from the previous Sith Lord whom renounced her faith and is on the run. The Sith operate from a Church on a planet in Wild Space due to the Galactic Republic outlawing/banning their research on dark magic (summoning, rituals, etc). Plagueis is obsessed with magic and science and is trying to find ways to use Midi-Chlorians to further his own powers by accessing dark magic that hasn’t been seen for thousands of years. I kinda wanted the prior Sith Lord (cat lady) to have an affair with Plagueis, which is one of the reasons why she’s on the run:

1) She realized she wants a “career change”, perhaps to become a mother? she knows her apprentice/ex lover, Plagueis wants her dead but due to her renouncing her faith, she believes she no longer has to abide by Sith rules. It is unknown why she won’t kill him. Perhaps her ethics changed or she needs to conserve energy due to trying to conceive/ has conceived, still has feelings for him, possibly manipulating him, etc (still wip lol).

2) Her beliefs in the Sith are different than Plagueis, rule of 2 = life and death, good and evil**, love and hate, weakness and power, parent and child, yin and yang, Fire and Water; she believes the Force is the balance between good and evil**, the grey between two extremes and everyone has a place within the universe such as herself being on the extreme (Sith vs Jedi). She is driven by passion and striving to be the best (including protecting and getting revenge for those who wronged her and loved ones). I wanted her beliefs to challenge many struggles we see in current religion such as “cherry picking” but also following one’s heart, beliefs and values.

I had “Rudo” (Thrawn) in mind. A spy who happens to partner up with Jango and Grievous on occasion for random missions and quests. Rudo is a spy for the Chiss Ascendancy and goes by a different name to keep his identity hidden.

Maul is struggling with wanting to be his own person but coming to terms with his destiny, chosen by adoptive father Sheev Palpatine. Early on, Maul showed powerful magic ability such as communicating with animals and harnessing the powers of nature (Sith magic) such as fire, earth, water, metals, etc. In other words he has shaman/druid abilities (similar to Ezra from Rebels). Maul is an innocent but honest and hardworking kid. He loves animals and wants to make friends. Prior to the romantic scandal (cat lady x Plagueis), the cat lady then Sith Lord, saw Maul as a son and was enamored by his love and connection with nature and the wild life - this led her to believe that Maul had the heart of a true Sith and was the catalyst to his downfall by having him train as Sheev’s apprentice rather than stay an acolyte/“alter boy”.

To be continued…

***

Sorry for the typos and crappy grammar. I have food poisoning as well as a kinesiology exam tomorrow. >_<;

#Star Wars AU #clone wars AU #am I coconuts you guys #open to ideas #this is probably a wip #jango fett #grievous #maul #thrawn #au shenanigans #sw prequels #head canon stuff #sw fanart

[twobellsilence]

#PENICILLIN #Chisato #Hakuei #Gisho #O-Jiro #jrock #Luke surfs the dead Geocities #that's all this gallery........... most others are dead so idk which will be next #ima take a break for today but expect more of these tomorrow #perhaps I'll be done with this site by then and I'll finally be able to continue #on my quest to find a Mother midi

[beggingwolf]

the sidgeno star wars au sounds awesome - leak the notes if you pls?? 👀

oh god, ask and ye shall receive 

tw for slavery (in the star wars sense, since this, again, is an INCREDIBLY loose obikin-based thing, and anakin was a slave on tatooine)

[copy and pasted from my google doc]

anyways here’s how I made sid a sports savant in star wars. oof.

Sidney: 

was born into slavery along with his sister in the Hosnian Prime factory complex, where his parents [and eventualy he] worked for Czerka Arms. He and his father were separated from his mother and Taylor when he was 9 standard years old, as they were sold to Giradda Hutt in a deal involving the expansion of podracing, a sport Czerka Arms was heavily involved in, and Czerka Arms’ money laundering efforts. 

Moved to Nar Shaddaa as part of the deal, Sidney and his father were separated, and Sidney was tasked to clean and maintain the Huttball arena with a small group of children. He began to learn the rules while cleaning up the blood and gore left behind after games, and developed a prodigious understanding of the arena and the finer aspects of the game, until he demonstrated his abilities at the age of 13 when he was locked out of the sweeper team’s confines and trapped on the arena during a battle, which he survived despite being unarmed due to his innate talent of being able to perceive Shatterpoints. Intrigued by the miraculous force-sensitive slave, Giradda Hutt offered Sidney the ability to train and become a novelty for the crowd, a champion of the game. Sidney agreed in the hope that, if he succeeded, he could be reunited with his father. Much to his horror, this meant Giradda Hutt started putting other children into the ring as entertainment, which made Sidney believe he was responsible for their demise. [angst!]

Unknown to Sidney, he is incredibly strong in the Force, with a nigh-unheard of midi-chlorian count. Because he was born in the factory complex, he was never tested, and the Jedi were never alerted to his presence. His force abilities allow him an unbeatable edge in the arena, and by the time he was 17, Sidney was the champion of Huttball, and allowed some small mercies as a favor by Giradda Hutt, including a residence in the Corellian Sector. Able to barter for better conditions for his father, who had been working in spice processing, Sidney had been able to convince Giradda Hutt to allow his father to work in a casino in the Corellian Sector. Sidney was working towards enough money to buy his father’s freedom [before his own, knowing very well Giradda Hutt would not allow an asset like him leave without exorbitant amounts of money, which Sidney barely earned from the bets made on him].

However, Sidney is noticed by the Jedi eventually, and a Jedi and his padawan come to Nar Shaddaa to collect him. The padawan is...

Evgeni: 

was born in the Ring of Kafrene, a mining colony, to human parents who already had one child. He was tested for midi-chlorian count and was determined to be Force-sensitive. 

Taken to Coruscant to be raised as a Jedi youngling in the Temple Crèche, Evgeni was a temperamental youngling who roused trouble often in his clan of younglings (Bear Clan), which included Catherine (Tanger’s wife), a female Twi’lek. During his first Gathering, Evgeni failed the final task, which, when combined with his troublemaking past, made some in the Order doubt he would ever be able to find a kyber crystal. 

Upon his second Gathering, Evgeni was able to complete his trials and obtain his kyber crystal. He then passed the Initiate Trials and was chosen by Jedi Knight Pavel Datsyuk to be his Padawan. Knight Datsyuk and Evgeni had a cordial, if occasionally strained, relationship; Datsyuk believed Evgeni capable of many things and found Evgeni lacked the self-control required of Jedi to fully achieve his potential, even though Evgeni was an intelligent Padawan and adept in both combat and politics. While Datsyuk was a negotiator and attempting to groom Evgeni to do the same, Evgeni had an irresistible pull towards archaeology like that of Rachi Sitra and especially the work of Jedi Master Lene Kostana in finding Sith artifacts. 

Evgeni finds the Syn Holocron, introducing him to the memory of Dark Jedi Exile Sorzus Syn and her exile from the Jedi Order due to her quest for forbidden knowledge. This appeals to Evgeni and his general curiosity for Sith artifacts. In her diary (the Book of the Sith), she wrote down the findings on the weapons and artifacts of the Sith [species], bringing them into the new rule of the Sith [philosophy adherents]. Evgeni finds the third Great Amulet. ["The call of Korriban is strong, but it is the call of the dead." ―Darth Sion]

The Jedi suspect Sid will be targeted by the Sith due to his lack of control/upbringing by the Hutts and not the Jedi. However, under their noses, padawan Evgeni is quietly being seduced by the dark side. Perhaps, due to The Rule of Two, the Sith Lord targeting Evgeni intends for him to kill Sid, who is powerful enough to help the Jedi crush the Sith, (or intends for Evgeni to convert Sid into HIS OWN apprentice).

Thus, a galactic tug-of-war erupts, and Sid and Evgeni have to sort of save each other and by combining their power they could rule the galaxy, but love is forbidden for the Jedi, etc. etc. and it’s very overwrought (because star wars!).

Also, 

Tanger is a half-Bothan, half-human hybrid.

Mario (Bram'aare'oklaio) is a Chiss ; Chiss society is highly ordered and operates on the internal battles of clans that undercut each other at every opportunity; this would give Mario a way to connect to Sid and relate to Sid’s feelings about the Jedi council. He is a Shadow child who was moved off-planet in order to protect not just him, but also his family; Chiss society considers Force sensitivity to be a shameful impurity. However, this resulted in the Jedi finding him at a young age and bringing him to Coruscant. His later starting age with the Jedi was a point of contention among many, also leading Sid to trust him. The Chiss highly value privacy and self-reliance, more traits Sid can relate to.

Taylor was also force sensitive and was picked up by the Jedi eventually; she and Evgeni are friends despite their age difference, and she and Sid are reunited. 

....anyways that was the absolute strangest thing I ever considered writing, and I wrote and published a/b/o mafia fic!

#that time beggingwolf nearly wrote a star wars au #unhinged! utterly unhinged! #Anonymous

[dietaku]

Amazing Quest 1: Chapter 9

The final chapter. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 9: Together, as One, We Will...!

When you're ready, warp back to Toneland. Any island will do, really, but Toneland is large enough that  it should serve your purposes. The point now is to wait for Zytroph to go near the island and leg it until the sprites touch. Doing so will prompt a new scene:

Hiro: This is it, guys!

(Zytroph looms ahead of the party as a flock of glass cranes with chimes on their wings fly around him. In the GBA version, this entire scene is rather beautifully animated with sprites, while in the SNES, it's all done with a single still image. )

Zytroph: The time is nigh, mortals. Abase yourself before the Mother of Strife.

Hiro: NOT WITHOUT A FALL GUY!

--Boss Fight!--

Zytroph the Dragonfish x1

LP: 88000

MP:9000

Zytroph is tough, but with the Final Fusion Swirl, Noble Neopolitan, he's a cakewalk. His high defense and magic defense are naught to the gigantic attack buff and  removal of defense that Noble Neopolitan allows. If you don't use it, then you'll find that Zytroph has access to all tier-3 spells and his own skills, like Gran Aero Spiral, where the cranes rush the party for heavy air and earth damage, and Dragon Palace Whale Lullaby, which will inflict sleep, drunk, or red randomly.

--Boss Fight!--

Zytroph: Very well, you are strong enough to cross onto my back. Perhaps you will overtake the other who has crossed over before...

Hiro: Jaydea...

Zytorph: I know not their name. All mortals look alike to mine eyes.

Loyroll: How very unfabulous.

You find yourself in front of the giant ivory tower on Zytroph's back. The entire floor rumbles, and the chimes stop, which, with the lack of music makes the entire area deathly quiet. Something terrible is on the way. That, combined with the unearthly enemies, like the Monstrkin, the Mermyth, the Scalawag, and the Eudaemonaia, which is notable for being able to inflict Deep Haze, a status unique to it that forces a character to not act for five turns, even if the fight ends before that is up. Thus, speed is the name of the game here. Progress up the tower, which is a simple spiral, before you get to a floor with a large courtyard and a closed door. Inspect it and you'll be told it's a dead end. Do this ten times to proceed.

(The dead end shifts into the now-familiar form of Kord)

Kord: Geez, you guys! I thought it was someone important! Lady Jaydea told me to keep this place off-limits! I thought I had put a sign up!

(He turns around, where a “Do Not Disturb” sign is hanging off his back)

Ozma: (Giggles)

Kimyawa: Rock-san., your sign--

Kord: Hrm? My sign? It's Aquarius. Why do you-- Oh, here it is. It's on my back. Whoops. Anyways, now that we have THAT out of the way...You'll all have to die.

Hiro: Really?

Kord: Well, no, but I prefer being paid to not, y'know?

--Boss Fight!--

Heavenly King Kord x1

LP: 90000

MP: 12000

Kord is relentless. His defense and magic defense are higher than Zytroph, and he can actually go toe to toe with Noble Neapolitan as his hits can pierce the defense buff that the fusion grants you. In addition, his “Rocky Road Ripper,” and “Kordian Knot” skills will shred your LP over time with earth-based damage and lower your action speed, so don't feel bad if he actually defeats you. Lay on the hate and you ought to come out on top!

--Boss Fight!--

Kord: U-urgh, dammit! Even with all my amicable character moments, even the Stone Lord, must fall. I guess it r-really is time for me to gather moss....

(Kord falls over dead, where Deima kicks him off the tower, presumably into the ocean below)

Deima: And now, not only does he get a burial at sea, he's out of the way, too!

Hiro: ….

Deima: What? Le'ts go!

Continue up the stairs, where you see Jaydea leaning over a large mosaic on the floor of a blonde woman with wings, with the five talismans inset into the mural.

Jaydea: (Turns to the party) It is done. I have unlocked the Goddess, but...You know what she asked me? Are you sure? Do you want me to grant you this wish? Of course I answered yes, but seeing her, and now you're here. All I've done. All Zoddon aspired to, and now, all my friends and allies. They're all gone... Light Pudding, no, Hiro...You do not have the will to stand up to that evil, and you. Cannot. Kill. Me. What will you do?

Emilia: Bullshit, Jaydea! I'll rip you apart myself!

Jaydea: No, you cannot.

--Boss Fight!--

Dark Pudding Queen Jaydea x1

LP: 65000

MP: 9500

Do not let her low LP count fool you. Jaydea CAN and WILL stand up to Noble Neapolitan. She'll engage her Figgy Pudding form, and then begin what can only be considered a barrage of torment, as she abuses Wenceslas Breath, Sun Downer, and Soul Survivor, to lower your action speed, inflict heavy light-based damage, then scythe away your MP so you options become increasingly limited and thereby force you to spend turns refilling your MP with items. However, thee is an easy way to beat her and a hard one. The hard one is actually trying to inflict enough damage to beat her normally. The other is to last twenty turns. Either way, you'll win.

--Boss Fight!--

Jaydea: (Clutches her shoulder, which is badly burned and bleeding, before smiling coolly, and her wound vanishes in an instant.)

:Deima: You didn't...

Jaydea: “Do you want this? You will watch all your friends and loved ones grow old and die, and then the world, until all the stars go out, and you will float endlessly in an ocean of blackness.” That is what Halst asked me. Yes, I am now invincible, unkillable by anything.

Emilia: You're wrong, Jaydea. You're not invincible.

Jaydea: Oh? I fail to see what you're getting at.

(Emilia motions for Jaydea to walk closer to her, where Emilia claps her on the shoulder)

Emilia: We go back a long way, Jay, so this is gonna hurt me more than it does you.

Jaydea: I don't think so, but--

(Jaydea cannot finish this, as she's slammed on the ground, and kicked off the tower by Emilia, complete with MIDI falling scream)

Emilia: YOU MESSED WITH MY LITTLE BROTHER, YOU BITCH! That was where you failed!

Hiro: (Visibly tears up) Emilia....

Loyroll: While this is excellent work in reversing years of abuse, we really do need to hurry up and save the world.

Hiro: R-right!

Go through the door. Where you'll find another garishly decorated room with mosaics all across the walls and floors. However, the most striking feature is the little girl in the center of the room.

Hiro: She seems strangely familiar...

Little Girl: Hello, Mister! Do you want anything? Money? Fame? Power? Women? A set of balls?

Hiro: EXCUSE ME?

Little Girl: GYAHAHA! A little divine humor. Seriously, though, Let me heal you, first!

(The party is fully healed!)

Little Girl: Now, what can I, the Goddess of Strife, Halst, do for you?

Hiro: Can you please go back to sleep? The world is really nice and y doesn't deserve to be destroyed!

Halst: Mmmmmm, you raise a good point. Okay! I will go back to sleep!

Hiro: R-really?

Halst: I need to get some exercise in first, though. No sense in getting up before doing some stretches~!

Deima: Be on your guard, Hiro!

Hiro: !!!

--Boss Fight!--

Tiny Goddess Halst x1

LP: 100000

MP: 33000

This form of Halst is unnerving since she'll giggle in an autotuned MIDI voice and do little else for five turns before she uses the “Goddess Halst cried an evil spell!” and the party will be dealt half health in dmage instantly. This is when you realize this form isn't meant to kill you, but troll you to waste healing items. She'll continue doing this, but never do more than scythe away your health with percentage attacks.

--Boss Fight!--

Deima: Hiro! She's just pretending! Inside that cutesy exterior is the heart of an utter monster!

Halst: Ohohohoho, so you do remember. Chimera Witch Deima, shall we begin our deadly dance once more?

Deima: Nuh-uh! I'm taken already! (Grabs Hiro, as Ozma and Kimyawa both tense violently)

Halst:...Of course. Very well...

(She bulges, before erupting like an insect molting out of her little girl form, standing as a stunning adult version of her earlier form. She kicks off the fleshy bag as a pair of winged munchkin cherubs fly by and drop a halo over her head)

Halst: Now, Puddings! Welcome to TODT!

--FINAL BOSS BATTLE!--

Halst, Goddess of Destruction x1

LP: 120000

MP: 45000

She'll remain  in her initial form, while Deima will yell at you to “Use Noble Neapolitan to stop her Spinning Narrative!” When you do so, Halst will jerk back in terror, and her form will shift to that of a gigantic winged-snake form of herself. She still has her human top half, though, so, go topless final bosses, I guess? It doesn't affect her life any, but it does make her much more aggressive, allowing her to use Divine Light of Terror (Heavy Light-elemented LP-based damage, translated as Shining Slayer Cross of Evil later), Sacred Verdict (A large chance of inflicting all status ailments), and all tier-3 spells to hurt you in all sorts of ways. My best advice is to abuse Noble Neapolitan's best skill, Shining Zephyr of Friendship, or as it is translated in the localized version, Shining Rainbow Connection. If you're deliberately going for the bad end, hit her as hard as you can without Noble Neapolitan... That's all I can say.

--FINAL BOSS BATTLE!--

Halst: URGH! I'm...I'm beaten? Light Pudding, I will return to sleep. Be warned, though. As long as Evil persists, I cannot die...(She melts away)

Hiro: We-we did it!

Emilia: I knew you could do it!

Hiro: Really?

Emilia: S-sure! (She looks away and coughs for a moment) Anyways, we got a lot to do, let's go home!

(You're then treated to the ending credits as the party slowly walks back through the various towns that still remain intact, as the party members all wave goodbye, dispersing one at a time, until Emilia, Hiro and Ozma remain. They stop at Toruble Castle, and Emilia turns to the other two.)

Emilia: Well, I need to do some, uh, stuff, at, uh, place. I'll catch you two kids later!

Hiro: Huh?

(Hiro and Ozma stare at one another)

Ozma: Wanna see my sock puppet collection?

Hiro: A'iight.

The good ending has a mural of the heroes, except Moore (Fuck that guy), which ends in Hiro and Ozma raising a sword together to Halst in her angel-snake form, while we get one last scene..

(Hand on a beach, clenches)

Jaydea: I...I told you...I cannot die, Light Pudding. I-I'll be back in the sequel! (Cough, cough)

(Bad End)

Halst: (Clutching her face) I...I was beaten by the Puddings, but they ignored Big Sister's warnings, and now....

(She turns to a a pair of babies on the nearby floor. One of which is a dark blue boy with red streaks down his face, and the other is a blonde girl akin to Halst)

Halst: Auntie Deima will meet YOU two~! Mweeheeeheehee~!

Amazing Quest 1: Pudding Warrior....END

#Adventure #fantasy #fiction #writing #science fantasy #infrequently asked questions #Amazing Quest

[yukithesnowman314]

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Fire Emblem series (with the release of the first game of the series, “Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and Sword of Light released on April 20th, 1990), I will be doing a bit of a low-brow, personal “retrospective” of the games I played from the series. Join me as I talk about my first experience with the series through my first and second favorite Fire Emblem game: “Genealogy of the Holy War”.

[Warning: Foul language, low-brow commentary, and crude remarks  on the characters of  Fire Emblem.  Go watch some boring elitist cornballs with no real talent who think talking about video games on YouTube  is a real, viable job on YouTube if you want a serious retrospective on the series]

As with many of my peers who grew up playing video games throughout the 90s, I played such classics from that era such as Super Mario World., Street Fighter II, Sonic, Gran Turismo,  Final Fantasy, and Pokemon to name a few.  It was thanks to the 1996 capsule monster catching RPG that I would find love within the RPG genre.  As my first RPG, I loved the idea of capturing and raising monsters to dominate the world of Pokemon  Blue.  Later, around the early 2000s, I was introduced to two of my top favorite RPGs of all time: Paper Mario and the original Final Fantasy 3 on the Famicom; which happened to be my first Final Fantasy game.

(For those wondering how and why Final Fantasy 3 was my first FF game: grew up in Nintendo dominate household and my Pentecostal mother thought RPGs were the devil because Christians, especially Black old-school Baby Boomer Christians,  live in fear of thinking for themselves and questing religion; so emulation was the way for me.)

I loved the idea of taking a traditional  2D-platformer Mario game and reimagine it as a turned- based RPG spanning across the Mushroom Kingdom as Mario, once again, must save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. As for FF3, the 8-bit charm of four young orphaned youths being the chosen ones of legend to save the world from darkness. While both games’ story could be consider “basic” to some (which, to a degree, they’re sort of right especially on FF3’s front), I enjoyed and loved them.

I would continue my RPG journey as the early 2000s progressed with classics such as Chrono Trigger, Shin Megami Tensei II, Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, and finally VII (mostly 16-bit emulation because, again, scared Pentecostal Christian mother).  They told such amazing stories of their worlds.  Time travel.  Nuclear holocaust. Tales of hope, life, and death. Yet, despite all of that, there was something missing from those games. Something that I could say in confidence would impact me for life.

Don’t get me wrong: it was a shock to see teen pregnancy used as a narrative theme in Final Fantasy VI with realism as Katarin struggles with the fact of becoming a teen mother in an world of ruin. Katarin, along with her lover and baby’s fathers Duane, the oldest member of the destroyed village of Mobliz in the World of Ruin. Chrono Trigger made me thought about my own existence in the universe as I watched Crono and crew ponder about how the universe and its inhibitors became to be during the campfire scene.

Chrono Trigger campfire scene

  Yet – those things didn’t fulfill a certain need of true, down-to-earth realism.  I needed something more grounded. Something that would make such sense to me as a young man. Something that I could relate to with absolute:

Super Smash Bros. Melee. for the Nintendo GameCube!

2001:

Through a summer school event, I managed to get my hands on a copy of a Nintendo GameCube demo disc for the PC.  Featured on the disc were video demos of upcoming launch titles for the GameCube: including Luigi Mansion, Star Fox Adventures, NBA Courtside 2002, and of course, Super Smash Bros. Melee.  Super Smash Bros. 64, the game prior to Melee, felt dwarfed compared to the raw graphical power and scale of Melee. I was aware of and hyped for Melee being created by Nintendo through elementary schoolyard conversations and magazines.  Seeing a demo of the preceded flawless game’s action and mass scale drove my desire to get a GameCube and Super Smash Bros. Melee for the 2001 holidays season.

So, did I eventually get Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube and the GameCube for Christmas of 2001 like every other good little boy and good little girl?

Of course fucking not!  My parents went bankrupt after buying a new house, having to bury my mother’s parents who both died a month apart from each other, and finally — said new house’s kitchen catching on fire; thus, causing us to  living in a downtown hotel then a temporary luxury apartment because we all have shit lungs (asthma). I was lucky to get a DVD/VCR combo for Christmas with a few DVDs.

  2004:

For three years, I had to live the Melee (and by proxy, the early 2000s gaming) life vicariously. One day, while working on a paper on the history of video games in 8th grade (2004), I discovered  the MIDI (Musical Insturmental Digital Interface) video game vgmusic.com. Musically inclined fans could upload their recreation, remixes, and close-to-the-original MIDI files for the nerdy gaming massive to indulge in.  Being curious about how the music of Melee sounded, I led myself to the Super Smash Bros. Melee section which had an impressed library of fan made songs from the game.

Scrolling through, there was one track that caught my eye: Hyrule Temple: Fire Emblem.  “I don’t remember a Fire Emblem in Majora’s Mask, OOT, nor Zelda II. Maybe I missed something like a secret item named ‘Fire Emblem’ when I had played those games.” I ponder to myself.

Curious, I clicked the link to the song.

Four taps on the artificial hi-hats rang out followed by Latin-like horns, a heavy bassline, and drawn out bass strings and horns building up to the meat of the song.

“Okay, did Link went to Mexico and fight Zorro in a Zelda game because this song sounds super Mexican as hell.”.  Rather than do the incredibly smart and not racist thing and Google search Fire Emblem (because I was too busy googling Princess Daisy, Terra Branford , Ayeka Jurai, and Sailor Pluto hentai images and doujins) I just assumed that it was some a weird Zelda thing.

  Months later, after my parents recovered from their bankruptcy, they gifted me a Nintendo GameCube for Christmas (they couldn’t find Melee in any store sadly).  No worries.  I was given a Blockbuster gift card by a family member for Christmas, so I decided to rent Melee the day after Christmas.  Wanting to know how to unlock everything, I went online for answers when I came across two Nintendo characters whom which I’ve never heard of: Roy and Marth.

Again,  rather than doing the smart thing and Google search “Roy and Marth” (I was googling how to torrent anime illegally this time instead), I decided to play Melee for my answers. After defeating the original 13 fighters, I was alerted with the “Challenger Approach” alarm.  A shadowy figured appeared with a male wielding a sword.  We’re transported to Kirby’s stage with me wondering who I was going to face off against.

Then, that familiar Mexican sounding melody starts to play.

“Okay, this song sounds ever more Mexican than before now I’m hearing it how it meant to be heard.  Why is this white boy speaking Japanese to some  Mexican sword fighting music? Is this Zorro’s cousin? Kirby’s friend?”

After defeating Zorro’s half Japanese/Half Mexican cousin from Kirby (I assumed) I’m greeted with the following message:

“Direct from Fire Emblem, it’s Marth, the swordsman supreme!”

“Okay, what’s Fire Emblem, who’s this Marth dude, and why he’s a white boy speaking Japanese to Mexican music?”

Upon unlocking Marth, I ran him through his Classic Mode route to unlock Roy. Fought Roy.  Figured out why I thought Fire Emblem was Zelda related after a year (you fight Roy in Hyrule’s Ruins because I guess Roy was sleeping with Zelda behind Link’s back after she slept with Gannondorf). Whoop Roy’s ass and got Marth’s trophy. Wanting to learn more about Marth, I deiced to check out his trophy.

“MARTH

            The betrayed prince of the Kingdom of Altea, the blood of the hero Anri flows in Marth’s veins.  He was forced into exile when the kingdom of Dolua invaded Altea.  Then, wielding his divine Falchion, he led a revolt and defeated the dark dragon Medeus. Afterwards, Altea was annihilated by King Hardin of Akanea.

Fire Emblem JAPAN ONLY”

“Wait, he saved his kingdom only to have it annihilated by another king? So, a Nintendo hero failed at saving the day for once? That’s interesting.” Reading Marth’s bio deepened my curiosity towards Fire Emblem.  “Why was Marth forced into exile? Who betrayed him? How did he escape it?  Who’s Medeus and Hardin and how did they manage to destroy his kingdom?”

There was only one way to find out: download Fire Emblem through emulation.  But,  which one?  Visiting my preferred emulation site at the time, Emuparadise, I sought answers through the form of three Fire Emblem games: Mystery of the Crest (FE3), Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4), and Thrica 776 (FE5).

First Try: Mystery of the Emblem

The game boots up with a shield with five circular groves and a flame crested embedded in the middle while a trumpet and French horn fanfare plays for a few seconds. Next, I’m treated to a tapestry with scrambled text. However, the imagery of men burned alive by dragons, sages praying to the heavens, a god armed with a mighty sword and shield descending to earth from the heavens to slay a dragon, and humans giving praise to their savior to a medieval musical motif told the tale for me.

Following, the intro ends with three strikes of lighting; causing the screen to flash. A known fanfare plays as the words “FIRE EMBLEM: MYSTERY OF THE EMBLEM” fades into the foreground as the Falchion pieces through the text.  Finally, I’m introduced to the playable classes and their stats through the game’s attract mode.

Due to the state of the game’s translation, the pre-chapter’s screens were an unreadable mess (a most common issue of Fire Emblem early fan translations days). For all I could had known, this could had been Roy’s game, which I would had been cool with, but I wanted to know Marth’s story.

Skipping past the mess of the “translation”, the game starts.

Axe-men swarming a lone island: pilaving and killing.  A young woman on a Pegasus flies away from the carnage to a castle.  It is here I’m introduced to Fire Emblem’s first ever characters: Jeigan/Jagan, Ceada/Shiida, and the poster boy of the series: The legendary Prince Mars!

“Yo, who the FUCK is Mars? Where’s Marth?” I asked myself in confusion.  I mean, he had blue hair like Marth. Wears a tiara like Marth.  Look like a chick like Marth. But, he was clearly Mars. Not Marth.  Disappointed (and utterly unaware that Mars is Marth and the translator took the Marusu name too literal), I stopped playing I FE3 and booted up FE4.

But MAAAAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!

Second Try: FE4 (or, my true first Fire Emblem experience)

  Immediately, I’m blown away by audio/visual presentation. While the opening text aren’t a jumbled mess unlike the “translation patch” of Mystery of the Emblem, they were in Japanese; a language which (at the time), I lacked understanding of. Regardless, I could understand the story though the art and sound.

Dreadful music plays as the red and black hellfire serves as the background while mighty warriors and fearsome dragons engage each other in brutal combat.  Twelve flames, representing the twelve  holy gods of Jugdral surrounding a lone tower. As the music reaches a peak and fades out,  A dragon of darkness and a dragon of light entangled in a fierce battle  and the screen goes black. Silence. Then, a golden wheel fades in with slow strings building up. The wheel is surrounded by glistering weapons in a celestial blue shade before flying off.

Finally, this specular ends with the Japanese Fire Emblem logo proudly appearing as the theme of the series plays in vigorous pride: as if it was an anthem for a militaristic nation.

Even if this wasn’t Marth’s game and even if I lacked the knowledge to understand the Japanese language, the ominous scene displayed for me alongside with the introduction of the actors and players of the world of FE4, I wanted to dive deep into the blood soaked tale of Jugdral.

After the marvelous introduction, I created a new file, got hip to the story of Jugdral thus far, and proceeded to play.

“Finally! That’s Mart- no, who’s the hell is Sigurd and why does he looks like he could be Marth’s older cousin? If that’s Marth’s cousin maybe Marth will show up in this game.” I proceed to play FE4; impressed by the scale of the map compared to FE3’s Book 1 first’s map.  FE4’s first map felt like a long-standing war was about to take place while FE3’s first book seemed like a meek, short skirmish.  In a way, this set the tone of the overarching theme of FE4’s maps: large armies clashing with one another non-stop.

Needless to say, this was going to be a long, uphill battle –and I was going to love it.  By that detail alone at was then that I knew that not only Genealogy of the Holy War was going to be something special for me, but the Fire Emblem series in general.

*****

Three turns passed.  The blue hair axe dude, Lex, wasn’t Marth.  The other blue hair guy, Finn, wasn’t Marth neither. At this point, I realized two things:

1. I’m racist against blue hair mid-90s anime-inspired  fantasy characters. 2. This wasn’t Marth’s game.

In any case, the first few minutes of gameplay impressed me. How should I  move my units?  Which weapon is best against the enemy’s?  Should I keep Arden guarding the castle or should I be bold and reckless by leaving the castle defenseless?  Midir wasn’t a girl? Azel have a thing for cute young nuns and so do I.

Hooked, I spent an entire weekend getting through the first three chapters of the game (Birth of the Holy Knight, Maiden of the Spirit Forest¸ and Disturbance in Augstira). By the time I reached Chapter 2, I realized something: I suck.   Ethlyn (Sigurd’s sister) got wounded, so these left the game alongside her husband, Quan: causing me to lose two units at once.

I accidently killed Ayra with Alec and my dumbass saved my game after the fact.  I also got Jamke killed because Adean, the priestess whom was supposed to talk to him so he could join your cause, was at the other side of the map. I made Azel kill him.  But, it didn’t matter.  All it matter was that I was having fun with the game and I kept at it.

Why?

Well first, I simply fell in love with the game’s story.  Who would had known that Sigurd  recusing his friend Aidean from the savages of Verdane was actually a part of a much more diabolical plot orchestrated by the underground cult, The Loptr Church and their leader, Manfory to control the world.

Manfory was the man running the show behind the scenes in an attempt to find the last two surviving decedents of a twisted, dark, demonic dragon god (Lopotsu) in order to revive said dark dragon to plunge the world into disarray, death, destruction, and darkness.  Using his pull and promise of power to politicians throughout the land, Manfory was able to install his plan of bringing the world into darkness.

Second, as a teenager, I wasn’t one for politics. It was a topic that bored me to no end. Yet, Genealogy of the Holy War opened my eyes to how brutal and ruthless politics can be. No. Inferior words such as brutal and ruthless are understatements.  Cutthroat fits better.   I was filled with disgust with Chagall killing his own father, King Imuka, to gain power in Agustria.  I took note at how one set of dukes and lords of  Agustira  bid their time as Sigurd cross blade against the other dukes and lords of their land.  Levin’s uncle was willing to kill him and his mother if it meant controlling their nation.

(As Leptor told Sigurd: “Politics is all about power!)

Now, let it be known that politics alone wasn’t the sole reason why I fell in love with Genealogy of the Holy War despite it being the driving force behind why I loved the game.  The countless tragedies after tragedies that transpired throughout Sigurd’s tale got me as well.  To understand where I’m coming from, let’s go deeper into what I mean by this.

Towards the end of Chapter 1 (Maiden of the Spirit Forest) we’re treated with a touch of “love at first sight” story narrative.  Upon conquering Marpha Castle, Sigurd encounters the beautiful and alluring maiden, Deidre, being harassed by a brigand.  After running the thug off, Sigurd and Deidre exchange a few words; with Sigurd being shocked that Deidre knows his name (through Aiden) and admitting that he’s everything  she imagine him to be. Sigurd ask for her name, which Deidre asks for his pardon for not revealing it before running off loves struck.

Curious about her (and not being able to shake off the feelings of love) , Sigurd asks a local elder about her.   The elder informs Sigurd of Deidre’s name, background, and warns Sigurd not to engage in any sort of relationship with Deidre; least disaster shall befall upon the world if she left the forest and found love. Not wanting to believe in such superstitions, Sigurd sets out to find Deidre. They encounter one another and admit that they had fallen for each other…

…And like any good woman and man who fall for each other upon a chance, first meeting, they both fucked later that night. This isn’t me being lowbrow (for once): that scene is in the official Fire Emblem 4 manga written and drawn by Mitsuki Oosawa.  Deidre totally fucks on the first date  (must be due to of all those years of living a sheltered life).

Without context, this scene can be taken completely wrong…

  Anyway, after conquering the Kingdom and Verdane, Sigurd and Deidre got married.  From their marriage, Sigurd started to change.  His sister, Ethlyn, notes how much Sigurd changed thanks to Deidre.  He’s no longer a slob.  His hot-headed attitude has all but disappeared.  He became more upbeat. From their love and marriage came their first and only son, Celice, whom they both loved dearly.

Sigurd was happy. Deirdre was happy.

And then, Chapter 3 hits – hard.

After receiving news of Sigurd subduing Madino Castle, Deidre decides to leave their army’s home castle to check on her husband.  Despite pleas from Shanan (Prince of Issac, his backstory on why he’s in Sigurd’s army  is a tad long for this post for me to explain) to ensure that Deidre do not leave the castle as per Sigurd’s request, Deidre leaves; assuring Shanan that she’ll only be but just a second. As Deidre walks outside, she is attacked by Manfory, brainwashed, and taken away by the dastardly villain.

(Keep in mind: Sigurd is prepping to engage in combat against his own best friend, Eldigan)

After subduing Evans Castle, Sigurd is alerted by Shanan that Deidre went missing (in the manga version, Shanan engage in combat against Manfory and fails to rescue Deidre). Sigurd, still stressed out due to discovering the beheaded body of Eldigan in Silvali Castle, sets out to find Deidre.

To worsen matters, Sigurd hears that he and his father Vylon are accused of murdering Prince Kurth of Grannvale  (in truth, Vylon’s rivals, Lombard and Leptor, murdered the prince as an attempt to frame Vylon and take Castle Chaply from him).

Sigurd and company are forced to flee to the faraway frigid mountain lands of Silesse. Despite his justified anger/desires to storm Grannvale and expose Lombard and Leptor for their crimes, Sigurd is forced to resolve the civil conflict of Sileese while living as a refugee.

Once the civil conflict in Sileese subsides, Sigurd sets off to Granvale to combat against Leptor and Lombard. He revives his family heirloom, the Holy Tyfring from his father, who has been morality wounded by Lombard’s squad.  Sigurd is helpless as his dad dies in his arms and promises to rain wrath and revenge upon Lombard and Reptor for their crimes against the Chaply family and the land of Grannvall. Keeping to his promise,  Sigurd successfully slew Lombard and set his sights against Reptor and his unit.

During this time, Quan and his Ethlyn, along with Leonster Lance units, are to aid Sigurd and his army.  However, King Tribant (introduced in Chapter 3) ambushes their squad: killing them and leaving behind no survivors sans Cuan and his Ethlyn’s 3 year old child, Altena. Sigurd hears of this news and is devastated by yet another tragic event in his life.

Following, Sigurd eventually take the battle to Leptor, effortlessly defeating him with the help of his army.  Sigurd is greeted by Arvis’ aide, Aida, who tells him that Arvis and Kurth’s father knew Sigurd and his father weren’t involved in Prince Kurth’s death.  This relives Sigurd, a man who for the past two years dealt with soul-crushing pain.  For once, Sigurd is able to take a break and repay his allies  for their work.

Yet, all isn’t what they may seem.

While Sigurd and company are welcomed to Belhalla by Arvis in a faux celebration party, Arvis reveals to Sigurd that everything that has transpired within the past three years of Arvis’s doing.  He doesn’t pardon neither nor his father for crimes to conspiracy to usurp the Grannvall throne by murdering Prince Kurth. Sigurd is sentence to death.  Sigurd, now in absolute disbelief and believing that Arvis is joking, asks if this is a cruel joke, to which Arvis replies that he is not. Before killing Sigurd, Arvis reveals something that Sigurd has been looking for the past year:

Deidre – now recognized as the wife of Arvis.

Arvis insists that Sigurd must be confronted by the daughter of his victim. Deidre, lacking any sort of recollections of her (true) marriage with Sigurd, questions if Sigurd murdered her father. The man snaps, yelling at his wife that he’s married to him, not Arvis, and that he did not do such a horrible thing to his wife who, he loves dearly by killing her father.  Deidre is confused.  She ponders why Sigurd, the man who supposedly murdered her father, is speaking to her as if he was her familiar. She requests to Arvis that she is given more time to speak with Sigurd to clear things, only to have that requet deny by her new husband.

As Deidre is courted away by Arvis’s royal guards, Arvis believes that Sigurd has said more than enough and orders the execution of Sigurd and his army.

My jaw dropped as I helplessly watched the army whom I raised and the characters I grew to love lives come to a brutal end.

“Nintendo a company for kids and family…Did they just really let one of their main characters die so violently like that?” My teenage mind couldn’t compheren that Nintendo allowed the death of a main character (among many other controversial things) in one of their games.

Continued in Part II.

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The Swarthy Nerd Podcast A Black nerd empowerment podcast where Black nerds (well, all nerds, but Black first and foremost) can get together and talk freely about nerd culture while also acknowledging systematic white supremacy and racism in the nerd and Eastern otaku fandoms. Every Tuesday join @superlostfan108 and @weebtrashyuki the founders of http://www.swarthynerd.com for there very informative podcast talking about all things nerdy. No desperate boot licking self hating negus who were never accepted by Black norimes for being too weird for  their love of anime and comic books by the Black community allowed. Go drink bleach.

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15 years ago, I learned that Sigurd is not Marth's cousin and that I might a racist towards and against any Fire Emblem with Blue Hair (they all look alike to me -- i am not sorry). In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Fire Emblem series (with the release of the first game of the series, “Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and Sword of Light released on April 20th, 1990), I will be doing a bit of a low-brow, personal “retrospective” of the games I played from the series.

#arvis did nothing wrong #fe4 #Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem 30th #fire emblem 4 #Fire Emblem retrospect #genealogy of the holy war #JRPGs #nintendo #RPGs #seisen no keifu #super famicom #Super NES

[placetobenation]

Back in June 2013 the Place to Be Nation invaded the information super-highway with the launch of the website you are visiting just now. Since then a back catalogue has grown to include thousands of podcasts and written pieces, some of which you might have missed and it is my arduous task pleasure to go through the archives and bring you some of the highlights of PTBN through the years.

This weeks podcast is an audio anniversary for Jennifer and Mirandia as Geek & Sassy #1 hit the PTBN POP feed in this week in 2016. In this episode our wonderful hosts give a brief introduction to their new audience and how they developed their geekiness, followed by about their favourite TV shows, and how they think some were cancelled far too early. To find out where they rank Doctor Who and Harry Potter in their Top 5 Fandom discussion, or to see who they picked as their Nerd Eye Candy of the Moment, click here to listen.

And while you’re listening to Geek & Sassy #1, take a trip down memory lane with JT Rozerro and Chris Jordan as they bring us Part 1 of their look at wrestling video games in We Miss The 90s. Together they discuss the good, the bad, and the King of the Ring of video games from both the WWF and WCW in the first part of the decade and give their rankings on their favourites.

JT: Hey Jen… I mean Andy… Or Cowboy? Wait who the hell are you? Regardless you look like someone that played a lot of wrestling video games in the early 90s, so you want to hang around and chat it up with me?

Chris: Who the hell am I? Let me introduce myself.

Chris.

Now that introductions are out of the way, I would be glad to hang out and talk about wrestling games. It’s probably the only genre of gaming that I’m familiar with. It wasn’t uncommon to find a young me, unshowered and surrounded by empty containers of Cup O’Noodles, trying to land a Macho Man elbow on an evil, beaten Hulk Hogan. I can’t recall how many games I played back in the day. It probably goes back to the Nintendo era.

JT: Hey Chris! Unshowered is the best way to game, I would assume. That’s what I am told anyway.

I certainly dove into wrestling video games through Nintendo first and foremost. I have one game we we will start with and then I am going to pull one out the NAHSTALGIA BIN in a moment.

First up… WrestleMania Challenge! I remember this game very vividly. I remember renting it and sitting in my basement and playing on a very old, barely working TV. But I remember loving it.

It had some great theme music, a solid roster and… Rick Rude with short hair! It also had my personal favorite of the day, Brutus Beefcake. The game was interesting because it was centered mainly around the Ultimate Warrior instead of Hulk Hogan (1990, natch).

You remember this gem? Was it a gem?

Chris: A gem?? WrestleMania Challenge? I don’t think so, dude. I will admit, though, that it was a step up from the previous WrestleMania game. The roster was pretty stacked with eight whole Superstars. Guys like Hogan, Warrior, Boss Man, Andre the Giant, Jim Duggan, Brutus Beefcake, Randy Savage and Rick Rude.

However, I remember being disappointed in some aspects of this game. The theme music was there, but it was more like 8-bit versions of elevator renditions of their theme music.

JT: Yes it was terrible. I lied.

But… I was a theme music junkie and it wasn’t as readily available then as it is now, so you took whatever you could get. I loved theme songs so much that I made my mother call WWF headquarters to see if they would sell a cassette of them for me. She did. They didn’t. I was crestfallen. Crest. Fallen.

However… Let us switch promotions briefly to discuss WORLD. CHAMPIONSHIP. WRESTLING.

My favorite game of the very early part of the decade. It was unique and had some different stuff from what the WWF games offered, mainly that you chose your moveset before every match. Plus the roster was loaded… Sting! Flair! Steamboat! Rick Steiner! Road Warriors! THE GAMESMASTER!

I rented this one over and over and over…

Ever have the experience here? If not what was next in your canon?

Chris: I remember the WCW game very well. I also rented the hell out of that one. Not only could you select the wrestlers’ moveset, but they also had finishers, which was the first time I played a game that grasped that concept. The WWF games at that point, from what I remember, didn’t really incorporate finishers and yes the roster was also pretty cool at the time. DR. DEATH(!!), Eddie Gilbert. It had Rick Steiner, but not Scott Steiner which I found disappointing at the time, because I was hoping to pull off a Frankensteiner, the coolest move in wrestling back then.

Interesting thing is that the Road Warriors were on the cover, but they were on the WWF roster by the time I got my hands on this one.

I used to bring this back to the video store where I rented it, and then re-rent it. It got me in trouble with this one older kid at the store one time because I re-rented it in front of him, and he threatened to roll me for it and not return it, jacking up my mom’s rental account with bogus late fees.

JT: Ha! That is an awesome story. And it is a legit threat! That would have sucked man. Did you back down? I hope not…

Yes that was a mindfuck for sure, especially since I didn’t really watch NWA/WCW until 1992, so I was playing with a roster I didn’t have great knowledge of at all. The theme music of the game itself was pretty pimp though.

So, Genesis comes out and with it we get Super WrestleMania. I stayed loyal to NES but my good buddy Jim had it so I got to sample this game but don’t remember much about it. Eventually it came out for SNES too, but I was behind the curve on that. Did you ever dabble into the land of Sega?

Chris: I actually invited the kid back to my place to give it a whirl, then we ducked into a Woolworths where I ditched him and ran home before he knew what was up. He didn’t know where I lived and I didn’t really want him over anyway.

Yeah, Sega Genesis was awesome. I tried Super WrestleMania for Genesis, and the first thing I noticed was that the wrestlers had finishers, whereas the SNES version did not. One of the reasons why I picked up a Genesis, really. My favorite Genesis wrestling game, however, was Royal Rumble. The theme music was all there, the roster was stacked with guys like Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, IRS, Rick Martel, Razor Ramon, Jim Duggan, Crush. By the time I acquired this game, I was of legal drinking age (19 in Canada). My friend, Craig, and I would get into some beers and play video games on the weekends.

One time we teamed up with myself as Savage and Craig as Hogan, and we would go into tag tournament mode. I found myself knocked out on the mat, with one of the opponents also knocked down next to me. Craig, as Hogan, went to hit a legdrop on the opponent, and he nailed ME with it instead! We have no idea how that happened. Needless to say, as marks, we turned it into an angle and would fight each other the next match. Good times!

JT: Woolworths! We need to do 90s malls and department stores in a future installment of this for sure. And good, screw him. It is your right to renew!

I did like Genesis but I was Nintendo through and through and couldn’t be swayed. Royal Rumble was really awesome and Josh Richer and I would have some real battles. Rumble matches felt like they could go on for hours in that game. It was also frustrating that Genesis and SNES had slightly different rosters:

Genesis had Martel, IRS, Duggan, Shango and Hogan!

SNES had Flair, Perfect, DiBiase, Yokozuna and Tatanka!

I liked having Flair and Perfect but I really wanted Hogan and Shango… Papa Fucking Shango in a video game! Baller. Plus the Model’s theme sounded great in that game.

Also frustrating was that on the box for SNES, Mr. Perfect had on his black tights from Survivor Series 1992 but I could never figure out how to get them to appear in the game. Drove me nuts.

I want to circle back to NES and Steel Cage Challenge. The graphics seemed to take a step back but the cage match gimmick was neat plus it featured The Mountie’s theme in MIDI form. I have a good story about renting this game, but first… Any memories of it?

Chris: About the different rosters for SNES/Genesis Royal Rumble: I was a little miffed that the Genesis version never had Mr. Perfect, as he was my #1 guy at the time. My friend, the aforementioned Craig, had both a SNES and a Sega Genesis because he let his pimp hand do the talking like that. I also enjoyed the Royal Rumble match feature that you, as a player, could come back as another guy if you were eliminated…except when you came back as Duggan.

Anyway, on to Steel Cage Challenge. Yes, I remember this game also. I rented this for the NES console many time in my quest to be champ. One note about my gaming skills: I’m not skilled. Where it would take someone a couple hours to beat a game, there were games that I could never beat. Choosing Bret Hart, I would struggle to barely beat guys after the third match in championship mode. One guy that always beat me was The Undertaker. This was the first WWF game to feature a cage match, so i was pretty stoked for it.

You’re right on The Mountie theme. Classic mark out music.

JT: Yes being able to re-enter the Rumble was pretty clutch. To me that was the first game with a ton of replayability (that a word?) and I squeezed every ounce out of it.

I was so psyched for Steel Cage Challenge when it came out. Having that generation of stars in a game was neat and the cage just added to it all.

The day it came out, as soon as I got to my grandparents’ house after school, I called The Movie Center to ask if it was in stock. When the girl answered she said “The Movie Center, Phoenix”. After she confirmed I asked my mother to stop at the Movie Center on the way home to pick it up. Well, we get there and they don’t have it. Apparently there were two Movie Centers and the one I had called was in the Phoenix section of town. I thought Phoenix was that girl’s name. Of course, being 12 and desperately wanting to play this game, I lost my shit and my poor mom drove back across town so I could get it. And I played the shit out of it and eventually bought it. It was a lot of fun, even if IRS’ theme music was just a typewriter clicking and clacking over and over during the match. Looking back, I know the game sucked hard but whatever it was great the time.

Before we go fully into the next generation games for SNES and Genesis, I wanted to toss two more rare ones out there to see if you ever experienced them:

King of the Ring for NES Rage in the Cage for Sega CD

CJ: Your mom was pretty cool to drag you to the other side of town for a wrestling game. I come from a small town and my mom would have made me walk or take my bike. She was NOT cool. And Phoenix is a good name for a girl. It limits her career choices down to stripper or porn star, so it should be easier to decide what to do with her life.

King of the Ring for NES is one that I can remember playing. Rage in the Cage for Sega CD however…I have to hearken back to my friend Craig again. This guy had all the cool stuff back then. He had Sega CD and Rage in the Cage was one I can remember playing at his house. I thought it was cool immediately with the Fink doing intros and short videos. Any game with Kamala in it was kick-ass. That loading time, though. I can remember the game freezing a few times. One time, Craig was one win away from the championship and it froze on him. He started going all Ric Flair on us, dropping elbows like a lunatic.

JT: King of the Ring came out very late in 1993 and got lost in the shuffle because most people had moved on to the next generation consoles. It had a cool roster though: Hogan, Savage, Bret Hart, Undertaker, Michaels, Ramon, Bigelow, Yokozuna, Perfect, Luger (as Narcissist!) and YOU! That is right, our first, albeit very rudimentary, CAW! Plus you could do a tournament, which was cool. My buddy Jim had it and I played it out of pity when I went over his house but eventually he stepped up to Genesis and that was that.

I can’t believe you played Rage in the Cage! We would stare at that magazine ad with jealous eyes, unable to process that such an awesome looking game was just impossible for us to ever play. Kamala! The Nasty Boys! CAGES! CDs? Mind blowing.

OK, we can now dive fully into SNES. We need to talk about Raw, which was a kick ass Christmas gift in 1994, but first… did you ever play WCW SuperBrawl? The KB Toys in the Warwick Mall had it in the discount bin for all eternity and I would always stare at it but never pulled the trigger on the $15 or so it would cost to bring it home. You ever get to play that one? And did you have Raw for SNES? Or were you solely Genesis?

Chris: You know something? I cannot recall the SuperBrawl game, which is weird because my friends and I were HUGE wrestling geeks and how this one got past us, I don’t know. I wasn’t too big on SNES, as I was Genesis-centric. You know another genre of game I was fond of was baseball, and I had the Genesis for another reason: World Series Baseball. But aside from the original NES, Genesis was the only other system I owned.

Now Raw was a game that I played. Again, Friday nights at Craig’s were filled with nothing but wrestling games, wrestling tapes, and backyard wrestling. Our mutual friend Leon tried to make me submit with his figure-four leglock, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Anyway, Raw was a kick-ass game, with my favorite character being Doink, because he had that top rope Whoopee Cushion. But this game also had The 1-2-3 Kid, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Diesel and the late, great Owen Hart! Again, Royal Rumble mode was the best for me, as I had no skill to beat anybody, but could also sneak someone over the top rope if I needed to. That was me: the cheap shot artist.

Did you have a favorite character?

JT: I bet SuperBrawl is still in that bin in front of KB in Heaven.

Yeah Raw had a loaded roster for sure and again the ability to park on the character pages and listen to the themes was big for me. I would dub the themes to cassette and use them for entrance music for my Hasbro figures or my wrestling buddy matches.

The game also had a nice array of finishing moves and stood out for including Luna Vachon, who I believe was the first female competitor involved in one of these games. Was it weird that they had male vs. female violence in a kids’ game in 1994? Doesn’t really fit the profile. Are they saying she isn’t a woman? Michaels and Diesel were my jam in 94, so I definitely favored using them.

Apparently there was a Genesis MegaDrive version that had Gorilla Monsoon (!) and Stephanie Wiand (!!) doing commentary instead of McMahon and Lawler. How bizarre.

A year later we radically take a left turn and are gifted WrestleMania: The Arcade Game. With games like NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat all the rage, WMTAG was much more in your face and…zany? I guess zany. There were exaggerated movements and crazy finishers (Doink’s hand buzzer says hi!) and Vince McMahon screaming (THAT’S GOTTA HURT!) and… it was surprisingly a ton of fun to play. The moves were crisp and the action was non stop. Plus the graphics were pretty great and the details were super sharp. Even though it had a limited roster and even less match options it had great playability and I wasted many hours on it. Did you enjoy this game as much as I did? Or am I in a silo here?

Chris: Recording the themes from the video game for your action figures just shows proof of your hardcore wrestling love. That sounds awesome **coughnerdcough** Oh, who am I kidding? I used to put on weekly shows and PPV cards with my younger brother’s action figures all he time.

Now that you mention it, I totally forgot about the inclusion of Luna in the Raw game. Of course, I would never pick her because I was sexist. I had no issue with hitting her over the head with a weapon, with equal rights and all that. That was definitely the first selectable female character, however. Also, this was the first game where some characters could win with a roll-up. No recollection of a rival’s theme music playing just before said roll-up, though. While we’re on it, I seem to remember that the Sega 32X version included Kwang. I only remember this because my hardcore console-collecting friend Craig informed me of this over the phone one day, which made me do a spit take, literally. YooHoo everywhere. Never got a visual confirmation of that Kwang, however (he really was).

Now Wrestlemanial The Arcade Game is legendary among me and my friends because I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT!! I refused to play it. It had taken my love of wrestling and turned it into an over-the-top, cartoonish display of comic proportions. It was still real to me, dammit, before that was even a phrase to coin! You had Doink pull out a HUGE mallet to hit over the opponent’s head, Bam Bam Bigelow’s fists actually WERE fists of fire! I couldn’t stand it because I wanted realism out of my fake sport. Was that too much to ask for?

JT: Kwang is such a random inclusion. There was nobody else left on the 1994 roster they could have swapped in? Jeff Jarrett even? Sparky Plugg? Bob Backlund! Weird.

It breaks my heart that you hate WMTAG so much! It was nutty but super fun and those graphics? Straight fire.

Ok, so I am thinking we can draw the line in the sand here and spin off a second part that covers the back end of the decade and the next gen consoles like PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Before we go, I have two asks:

– Give me your closing thoughts on the first half of the decade in wrestling video games – Rank all the ones we discussed based on your love and memories, not based on their actual quality as a game

And… one more… who was your favorite character to be out of all these games?

Chris: So for me, looking back at the early part of the 90s, I can say that the games for the most part were not that great, but they were AT THE TIME! It was easy to get stoked for certain wrestlers appearing in the games, the gradual improvement of the theme music and the improvement of the graphics with each console. The downside early on basically came down to moveset and the lack of finishers. We tend to get nostalgic, but really, would any of us go back and play them now on any kind of serious gaming level?

Ranking the games, for me, begins with my #1: Royal Rumble for Sega Genesis.

2. WWF Raw for Sega Genesis 3. WCW Wrestling for NES 4. WWF Steel Cage Challenge for NES 5. WWF Rage in the Cage for Sega CD 6. WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game

This is just the games I played and my enjoyment level of them. My favorite character was Randy Savage all the way. I just wish that Mr. Perfect was in the Genesis version of Royal Rumble, or I would have gone in that direction.

JT: Agreed. Looking back, these games were sort of a hot mess, but at the time they were so cutting edge and amazing to play. The themes and variety of characters are what always sucked me in. They really did make the leap with those next gen games, especially Royal Rumble.

My list is as follows, and is pretty similar to yours:

1) WWF Royal Rumble for SNES 2) WWF Raw for SNES 3) WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game for SNES 4) WCW Wrestling for NES 5) WWF Super WrestleMania for SNES 6) WWF WrestleMania Challenge for NES 7) WWF Steel Cage Challenge for NES (TAKE THAT MOM!)

Looks like Royal Rumble reigns supreme!

OK, we shall part ways for now and soon return to look at the new wave of games for the next set of consoles. We will be back even sooner with a whole new topic. Until then…REJECTED! THAT’S GOTTA HURT! PIN HIM! PIN HIM! PIN HIM! YOU HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT TO… CHRIS JORDAN!

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

[annequinox]

Traveling With a Lonely Immortal

Part 1/? [part 2] [part 3] Pairing: Zeref and Lucy Rating: T Word count: 3,920 Status: Ongoing A/N: This is a one-shot that will be divided into two or three parts, since it might be too long of a read if I just smash it into one. This is for that anon who asked for a Zeref and Lucy story, so here you go! :) I hope you like the first part :D 

Summary: When Lucy is given a chance to save her mother, she takes it, unbeknownst to her that the cost will be leaving the Heartfilia family forever. In addition to that, she has to spend the rest of her life with the most evil mage of all time and accompany him until her last breath.

The mansion of the Heartfilias was cold and void of laughter. Where it was once a place full of music and joy, the house had lapsed into darkness, grieving for the mother that had fallen ill, a step away from death. Every well-known doctor had already came to visit, but none could heal her. It was a curse that was upon her—a curse that only the greatest mage could lift.

But the greatest mage was nowhere to be found. To be exact, no one knew where Zeref was. He was good at hiding and no one dared to search for him. Even those loyal to the Heartfilias couldn’t bear to risk their lives to ask him for a cure. Except for one.

Beside the bed where Layla Heartfilia lied, sat her daughter Lucy. She had just turned fifteen this year and she was looking more and more like her mother each day.

“Mom?” she whispered, bringing a hand to brush away the strands of hair from Layla’s face. “Are you awake?”

“Yes, Lucy?”

She bit her lip. “When will you get better?”

“I…” Layla paused, eyes clouding with anguish. “Soon, sweetheart. Soon.”

Lucy frowned. She didn’t tell her that she didn’t believe her, but she bid her mother goodnight and left the room. Her heartbeat picked up and she was on edge. She knew her mother would never get better. She heard her father tell that to the head maid. Truthfully, she could see it herself.

Death. It was written all over Layla’s face. It was looming over her like a shadow, sucking away at her soul and leaving none of it behind. She didn’t have much time left. A year, at most. Maybe even less.

Breathing heavy, Lucy turned to her room. She knew how to heal her, she just didn’t know where to find him. But if there was one thing Lucy had that everyone else didn’t, that was courage. She was going to find Zeref and ask him to heal her mother. Even if she had to beg, she will. She would do anything.

Her mind set, she packed her things before she could change her mind. She brought only little—a map, money, her keys, her whip, two sets of clothing, toiletries and her mother’s necklace.

She was fifteen. But she was braver than everyone else she knew.

And this was how their story began.

旅

It was warm in Magnolia, something she did not predict. Sweating in her coat and pants, she stopped by an inn to rest for the night. It was only two days ago when she left home. So far, she wasn’t caught yet. She was wondering if she had made the right decision, but then again, they couldn’t stop her now.

She stripped off her coat and sweater. The weather was too warm for her choice of clothing, and she had never been outside the Heartfilia Konzern so she didn’t know what it would be like outside. Wiping away the sweat on her neck and temples, she took her purse and headed out to shop for summer clothing.

The town was nice. She liked the river crossing in between the buildings, and she found herself walking on the edge. The people were polite and kind, offering her directions when she was getting lost. If she wasn’t on a quest to search for Zeref, maybe she would even stay here. There was a guild here that she would love to join—Fairy Tail. It was the strongest guild in Fiore. Perhaps, if the circumstances were different, she would be a mage there.

Smiling sadly to herself, she shook her head. It wasn’t the time to think about the “what ifs”. She had to find Zeref and save her mother.

Lucy found a cozy little shop that sold clothes at a cheap price. She bought herself one shirt, a tank top, a mini skirt and shorts. She didn’t know if this would all fit in her tiny bag, so she also made the decision to buy a bigger one. It fit her back, and it didn’t seem too heavy.

Content with her cart, she paid for everything and left to return to her inn. On her way out, she bumped into a pink-haired boy and a blue cat.

“Ow,” she groaned, rubbing her butt where she had fallen.

“Sorry ‘bout that!”

She looked up and squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look at the boy that was offering his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up.

“Hey, you look new!” he said, grinning. “I’m Natsu, and this is my cat, Happy!”

The cat spun in the air. It had wings. “Aye sir!”

“Lucy,” she muttered, looking at Happy while she picked up her belongings.

“What? Did you say your name’s Luigi?” Natsu asked, blinking wildly. “Nice to meet you, Luigi!”

Lucy’s eye twitched and she swallowed thickly, thinking that she should leave now. “Sure… I have to go now.”

“Aw, come on! We just met, how about buying me lunch?”

“No thanks.”

“Please?”

“I’m broke,” she lied, walking away from the duo hurriedly. She couldn’t be distracted, she had limited money and she couldn’t waste them on some… some pink-haired weirdo.

Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine then! See you around, Luigi!”

Lucy didn’t say anything in return, but in her head, she thought she may have said something nice if she had the time to. Maybe.

旅

She heard from one of the dark guilds that Zeref had been spotted in Bosco, so that was her next destination after Clover Town. It was proving hard to travel via train all the time, so at the moment, she was taking jobs to save up for a Magical Vehicle—a four wheel vehicle, to be exact. It was going to save a lot of money and time.

Home was so faraway now. Lucy admitted that sometimes she felt lonely, traveling alone. But the thought of going home, her mother welcoming her with open arms, gave her hope and motivation to continue. She didn’t know if she could actually find Zeref. She didn’t really think this through. However, if the gods were with her and if the heavens loved her as much as they loved her mother, then maybe they would help her reach him.

“You seem to be at the beginning of a long journey, young lady.”

Startled, Lucy turned to an old woman who sat outside a bakery. She was looking at her and her eyes were full of things she could not name.

Nervous, the girl could only smile. “Yes, I am.”

“I hope you reach your goal,” the old woman grunted, scratching her knee. “The path you are walking on isn’t easy.”

Lucy felt sadness engulf her and she nodded, patting the woman on her shoulder and giving her a cinnamon bun. “I know,” she whispered.

“You can have my four-wheeler.”

She withdrew her arm, surprised. “P-Pardon?” Receiving no response, she could only gape at the old lady. “A-Are you sure, ma’am? I mean… I could pay for it, if you want.”

“Nonsense,” the woman barked, rolling her eyes. “That was my son’s, when he was still alive. The thing only troubles me so you should have it.”

Lucy’s eyes softened and she smiled, close to tears. “Thank you…”

“Sophie.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Sophie-san. I’m Lucy.”

“You should visit me when your journey ends,” Sophie suggested, grunting as she tried to stand. “Now, I have some place I have to go. Good luck, Lucy. I hope you remain safe.”

“I will, Sophie-san. And thank you.”

旅

Midi was a small country, located on a peninsula south of Minstrel. She was told that there was a dark guild here that had been trying to contact Zeref for months and nearly succeeded. She wanted to see if it was the real thing or they were just dupes.

Lucy munched on a sandwich as she walked on the streets. The country was poor, but the people didn’t seem to care about that fact. There were children running on the sidewalks and the elderly were being escorted across the street. She could say she liked it better here than the last town that she went to. Everyone was just so rude there.

Sighing, she kicked a stone off the road.

“Where are you, Zeref?” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

Bosco was so long ago—a month, perhaps? Or maybe even more. She wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping track of time, because it made her homesick. But she knew that it was ages ago. It was a horrible country, slave trade still a trend and dark guilds everywhere. Zeref could no longer be found there when she arrived, and she was directed to the mountains of Bosco, where the ruins of an ancient dark guild remained. She had sensed a lot of dark magic. If Zeref was there, he didn’t make his presence known.

A traveler told her back in Oshibana that he could perhaps be in Tenrou Island. Thinking about it, maybe she should have checked out the island first before heading east. Too late now though. She was too far away from Fiore to turn back. She could only hope that Zeref wasn’t there.

Moreover, Lucy was mildly shocked that some of the people she asked weren’t surprised that she was searching for the dark mage. Some did shame her, calling her a disgrace to mages and telling her that it was a waste of time. Whereas there were others who merely gave her the knowledge that they had and didn’t ask questions.

She decided that she liked those kinds of people.

Arriving at her destination, Lucy eyed the towering building of The Novae. It looked active, and she could hear boisterous laughter inside. But judging from the area and the amount of dark energy present, she could only close her eyes and walk away.

Another dupe, another long journey back to Stella. She could go through Desierto to get to Bellum, but the SE Plug wouldn’t really work well there. She would have to drive back up north and then head east.

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek and pushed a hand through her hair. It was going to be a long ride to reach Minstrel, so she should probably get some rest tonight and leave at the break of dawn.

Yeah, she should do just that.

旅

“Zeref? No, he hasn’t been here since what, a hundred years ago?” the man said thoughtfully before bursting into laughter. “Don’t play around, kid. Zeref isn’t a joke.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes, hand unconsciously moving to grip her whip. “I know that.”

“Good, then don’t involve yourself with the guy. I bet you wouldn’t even last a second in his presence,” the man snorted, waving her away with his hand.

“If I defeat you in a battle, will you tell me then?”

The man paused halfway into drinking, holding the bottle as he raised a brow at her. “Huh? Are you challenging me to a duel?” he said slowly, his face showing mocking disbelief.

“I see you’re deaf,” she said calmly. “Yes, I’m challenging you to a duel.”

“You little bitch!” The man wiped his mouth with the back of his head and smirked. “You must be out of your mind, taking me on. I’m the second best in my guild, y’know.”

Lucy tied her hair into a pony tail and readied herself, sliding into a stance. “As long as you aren’t the best,” she mused, smiling when he turns to her, eyes flashing with rage.

“You’ll regret saying that!”

A blast of wind pushed her bangs back and she blinked, surprised. “Wah, that’s cold,” she stammered, glad that she chose to wear pants today. She grabbed her whip and slapped it against the floor. “Let’s see if you can dance.”

She decided to strike his leg first, and he jumped away to dodge. Just what she wanted. She flicked her wrist and the whip wrapped around his arm. Bracing herself, she spun her arm around and threw him towards a building. He landed with a heavy groan and she stumbled back, wiping away the sudden sweat that formed on her forehead.

“You’re heavy,” she commented, gritting her teeth.

“Air strike!”

“Oops!” Lucy yelped, jumping out of the way. The surge of wind left a cut on the floor and she swallowed nervously—she had to make sure none of his attacks hit her.

“You’ll pay for that!” he snarled, cracking his knuckles as he started to send a wild barrage of punches. She blocked each and every one with her forearms, wincing at the pain. She wasn’t good with hand-to-hand combat.

She gripped one of his arms with both of her hands and sent a kick to his abdomen. “Lucy kick!”

The man grunted, eyes bulging as he coughed violently. Lucy jumped a few feet back. She couldn’t afford to waste any of her energy on this man. She had to end this duel now.

“Gate of the Maiden, I open thee!” she hurriedly commanded, raising the gold key and ramming it down. “Virgo!”

A flash of light engulfed them and Virgo appeared, pink hair flapping in the wind and her hand over her chest. She bowed to Lucy. “Princess, should I be punished?”

“No, no,” Lucy panted, pointing at the man who was now walking towards her. “Defeat him for me, please.”

“Will do.”

Sitting on the curb with the defeated man by her feet, Lucy huffed and dismissed Virgo. She was extremely lucky to have gotten her from that guy—who was it again? Ah, Everlue. She shuddered at the thought of him. How lucky was she to have stumbled upon another key while she was traveling? A bit, apparently.

She poked the guy with her foot. “You owe me answers, old man.”

“Shut up,” he grunted. “I’m not old.”

“Sure.”

He sighed and tried to adjust himself into a sitting position, wincing all the way. He was in bad shape and Lucy promised to pay for his hospital bill if he gave her directions to Zeref.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re looking for that guy, but I’m telling you, he’s bad news,” he said, taking a cigarette out from his pocket and lighting it. He blew out a cloud of smoke and stared out into the distance.

Lucy groaned in frustration. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Are you sure you want to find him?” he asked, frowning.

“Why do you suddenly care?” she retorted, jumping to her feet. She was panicking. “I need to find Zeref to save my mother, alright? If you don’t know where he is then you’ve wasted my time.”

She turned around, ready to walk away when he suddenly called her. “Wait, I do have some information about him.”

She looked over her shoulder and stared at him, bleakness pooling in her eyes. “What?”

“You won’t find him in this country, that’s for sure,” the man said, shaking his head. “But try Sin, I heard it’s a free country. Anyone can enter and exit as they please, dark mage or not. If there’s one place he might be at, that’s my guess. But if not, take a boat and go to Enca.”

“Are you sure about that?”

He rolled his eyes, puffing out another cloud of smoke. “No one really knows where Zeref is, kid,” he stated as a matter of fact. “But from what I’ve heard, he doesn’t really stay close to where civilization is. So try looking for him in forests and mountains. Pass by the Pergrande Kingdom first, because a lot of people there might know where he is.”

“But… that’s a hard country to enter.”

The man looked at her in incredulity. “And you’re looking for Zeref! I wonder which of the two is harder, hmm?”

Lucy glared at him. “Fine, I’ll enter Pergrande. I’ll even drop by the King and say hi,” she muttered, taking out her map and grimacing. It was going to take forever to get there.

“Don’t be stupid, kid.” The man snuffed out his cigarette on the road and crossed his legs. “You’ll never find him.”

“Oh really?” she mumbled, staring at the sky with a determined glint in her eyes. “Try me.”

望

Lucy watched the sunset with a disinterested look. She had seen the same scene for months now, and it was a bit tiring, watching it alone. Her travels were lengthy and she repeated her clothes every day, stopping occasionally at inns to sleep in. But she was getting there—Bellum turned out to be worth the visit. And that man was nicer than she thought.

Pergrande Kingdom was the biggest country in Ishgar. She didn’t know much about it. She did know that it was a rich kingdom, full of wealth and good people. It was also known as the trading capital of the continent.

She could feel her magic draining and she took out a vial of pills. She popped one in her mouth, her magic slowly returning.

Rubbing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on sending a steady stream of magic into the SE Plug. It was tiring but it was proving to be a better choice than traveling by train all the time. She had plenty of money and she was even ahead of schedule.

Ever since she began this journey, she hadn’t made any friends, apart from Sophie and a cat that stayed with her in Stella. She was only fifteen, but she felt older somehow. Like maybe, she was wasting away her life, all for a chance to meet Zeref.

She hoped he would show up. Because if he didn’t, she might lose her way back home.

望

“Why are you looking for him, child?”

Lucy looked up at the King of Pergrande, and for a moment, she forgot why. Why was she looking for Zeref?

“I…” she trailed off, lowering her head. “My mother’s sick. They said he’s the only one who can lift the curse that was placed on her.”

“Dear, you may be walking into something you cannot walk out from,” the Queen said worriedly, her light pink braids tumbling over her shoulders as she fell back to her seat. She seemed exhausted.

“I know that,” Lucy clarified, clenching her fists. “I know that. But being scared won’t help me, so I beg you, if you don’t know where he is or if you can’t help me, just say so. I don’t have much time left.”

The two rulers looked at each other, discussing something through soft voices before directing their attention back to her. The King cleared his throat. “We do know where he might be.”

Lucy’s eyes widened, her heart almost stopping. “W-What? But I thought… I thought no one knows where he actually is?”

“No one does,” the Queen affirmed, nodding. “However, he has been trying very hard to do something lately, so his presence is stronger than ever. He was last felt at Enca, but if you travel a bit further than that, there’s a little island where he might be residing for the time being.”

“A-And you’re sure of this?”

The Queen smiled sadly. “As sure as we could ever be, dear. Zeref is a terrifyingly dangerous mage. If you aren’t too careful, you may never be able to tell him what you ask of him.”

Lucy couldn’t believe it. A solid trail, and it was just so close! She was mentally thanking every man that she had passed on the way here.

She gave the two rulers a deep bow. “Thank you very much! You don’t know how grateful I am. Do you need anything? Money? Or…”

“No, no!” the King rushed, waving his hands frantically in the air. “We aren’t like that!”

“He’s right.” The Queen sighed, her forehead creasing in worry. “Your safe return is all that we ask from you, Lucy-san.”

望

They were right, Enca was brimming with dark magic. She could feel it wherever she went. Though, they were also correct about Zeref no longer staying here. Although the area was packed with all sorts of mages, dark and light all alike, she couldn’t feel him yet. She was certain she would know if he was nearby.

Because she knew that he wasn’t in Enca anymore, she immediately rented a boat to the next island. It was small, and strangely enough, no one wanted to escort her there. Instead they taught her how to work the boat and left her to herself. Thankfully, it was powered by an SE Plug.

The ocean was quiet and there was only an occasional gust of wind that greeted her. The next island, which she decided she would call as Lucia (since it may as well be her last chance), looked dark from the distance. Gray clouds hovered above the trees and the forest looked ominous from her viewpoint.

Still, she didn’t feel any fright. She was only feeling excited that he may actually be there. That finally, her journey was going to end.

Docking the boat, she stepped onto the sand and stood in front of the looming trees. She swallowed hard.

“Here goes nothing.”

Walking into the dark abyss, she held a small lacrima to illuminate the path. There weren’t any animals, so far. Actually, there wasn’t any sign of life at all. Now that she got a better look at her surroundings, the plants were wilted and everything was dead. The island smelled of rotting flesh and death.

She covered her nose with an arm and ventured deeper into the island.

“Zeref!” she called out, trying her best not to muffle her voice. “I know you’re there!”

Silence.

Lucy mentally reached out to her keys for reassurance and they glowed for only a moment before the light dimmed. She sucked in a deep breath. “Zeref! Please, I need your help!”

There was a rustling to her right and she stepped back, startled.

“H-Hello?”

Once again, a deafening silence answered her.

She was only fifteen, she reminded herself. She was only fifteen, but she was braver than most of the people that she knew. This was nothing.

“Zeref?” she called out, her knees beginning to tremble from fear. The presence of dark magic here was absurd. It was almost suffocating, how thick it was. She was getting cold feet.

“I’m not here to kill you or anything like that,” she said carefully, close to tears. She was so close. He had to be here. He should be.

“I just need your help,” she begged, blinking away the water in her eyes. They slipped down her cheeks and she hiccupped, suddenly feeling very small. Suddenly feeling like she was truly fifteen, young and alone.

“Please…”

There was another rustling from in front of her and she looked up, sniffing. She was crying so hard she had to catch her breath.

“W-Who’s there?” she questioned in a wavering voice, her tears slurring her words.

A person stepped out of the shadows and suddenly the island was no longer dark. The clouds parted and filled the area with light, illuminating the mage that stood before her. He looked as young as she was, with midnight hair and sad eyes that she couldn’t look away from.

“You were calling?”

Lucy’s eyes widened and she stumbled backwards, blood pounding in her ears.

“Z-Zeref?”

There are two kanjis in this first part, if you didn’t notice.

旅 - travel 望 - hope

The places I used are actually real, if you look at the map of Ishgar. Well, they’re as real as they can get! There weren’t any solid information about what the countries were like, so that’s the only part where they begin to separate from the FTverse. I hope you still liked it though :) Stay tuned to the next part!

#fairy tail #fanfiction #zeref x lucy #zeref dragneel #lucy heartfilia #annequinox #traveling with a lonely immortal #part 1